11 March 2012

Sans, Souci.

Sanssouci palace in the winter sun
One year ago I was visiting friends in Berlin and we went out to Potsdam, to see the famous Frederician Rococo palace of Sanssouci (written on its façade as Sans, Souci. I have no idea why.) It was an exceptionally clear and sunny day and the yellow lime-washed stucco was particularly vibrant.  "This is the color of joy" I told my friends. I always associate that bright yellow with a happiness beyond reason.

Today I am working on a color scheme for a building with curséd white vinyl windows,  and have been  looking for examples of white-windowed buildings as reference, and so I am studying at this image I shot in Potsdam: warm grey limestone, pure yellow ochre pigment, black soot, verdigris copper.

One year ago today I heard the news that Japan had been stuck by a terrible earthquake and an even more devastating tsunami.   So today also I am also thinking of my friends in Japan and wishing them no worries.


photo by Lynne Rutter:  Potsdam, Germany,  March 2011
click on image to view larger





3 comments:

  1. Dear love. I believe I was there with you and, like you, I too was troubled by the comma and - what you did not mention in your article - the full stop at the end as well, and thus believe I should interpose here that minds greater than ours have taken up this question, e.g. the work of the historian Kittsteiner,

    http://www.amazon.com/Das-Komma-von-Sans-Souci/dp/3934877842

    who presents two equally unlikely hypotheses:

    1) To those of the 18th century initiated into the hidden mysteries, the comma stood for Calvinism and the period for Deism, and thus the phrase is read as: without strict Protestantism one slips into incoherent and vague beliefs.

    2) The comma, aka the virgule = solidus = phallus, refers to the impotence of the crown prince brought on by a malady contracted during his youth, a youth spent sowing the wilder oats. And thus we read it explicitly as a rebus: without the virgule, no worries.

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    Replies
    1. Maestro, is it any wonder I love you? You look so beautiful in bright yellow and you fill my life with joy.

      Delete
  2. Just found your blog I love all the little treasures you blog about like Sanssouci and the monastery in Rila. They both look breathtaking.

    Paul

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