Reims Cathedral, 1929

In a monochromatic oil painting, like drawn in pencil, Gerhart Frankl (1901–1965) pictures Reims Cathedral in 1929 on one of his many study trips of Europe. His time abroad provided him with ever-new impressions and motifs but also gave him access to works of international artists. The architecturally important Gothic church appears skeletonized in the picture, constructed like a scaffold. The painting is steeped in an eerie atmosphere. Black interstitial spaces are gaping dark and mysterious in the church façade, and the sky is covered in rainclouds. Frankl makes us look up to the monumental building whose width extends well beyond the picture plane.

RR, 2021