Whether in sunshine or rain, this November week focused on contrasts, museum visits and cozy evenings at home.
November is a noticeable feature of this week’s photos. When the sun does shine, it makes its way low over the horizon and creates this light that makes the shadows of even the smallest things appear clear and long. Everything looks much more contrasting and exciting as a result. If only sunlight and color were the criterion, November would definitely be one of my favorite months.
Under the November sun
Embracing the downside as well
But November also has another face. A cold one, a wet one, an uncomfortable and dark one. And it gets more and more like this as November progresses: colder, wetter, darker every week. Candles and tea, cookies and books help against this. A blanket on the sofa and relaxing music. And then it’s actually quite OK that nature ensures that you can enjoy such moments. It would be a waste of life if we didn’t embrace this time of year. And the wet and gray world of November has its charm too.
Aarburg on a rainy day in November
On a Museum tour in Bern
So on Sunday, despite the pouring rain, I went to the station and got on a train with a book for the journey to Bern. Two art exhibitions had been on my list for some time: Anni Albers’ Construction Details at the Zentrum Paul Klee and the Kirchner x Kirchner exhibition at Kunstmuseum Bern. Anni Albers has long been one of my favorite artists and I really like her works, which are somewhere between design and art. I already saw some of her works at MoMA in the summer. The exhibition at the Zentrum Paul Klee deepened my insight into her work even further.
Textile works by Anni Albers
Kirchner retrospective
What I like most about Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is the colorfulness of his paintings, especially those created during his time in Switzerland. Many of them are shown in this exhibition, which is based on an exhibition held at the Kunstmuseum Bern in 1933 arranged by himself and deliberately staged to focus on the colors and contrasts of his works.
Sunday in the Alps by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Muted colors all over
Finally immersing myself in the November gray. A short walk through Bern was perfect for this. Discovering and admiring the structures of the leafless trees. Like the first green leaves in spring, I find the suddenly visible branches at the start of the season exciting and interesting. A completely different impression of the trees that were still leafy. Instead of colorful and soft, suddenly branched, reduced in color and rich in contrast. And yet they are both impressions of the same thing. The muted color palette also extends to the entire city on a wet November day like this and has a calming, harmonious effect in its own way.
Fall mood in Bern
