Using a range of vibrant colors, Palmié captures one of his favorite motifs, Munich’s Marienplatz in the evening after a rain shower. The façade of the New City Hall dissolves into dark purple tones, greenish light produced by electric lamps wafts through the streets, and the warmly illuminated shop windows in the City Hall arcades hold the promise of instant consumer gratification. In this painting, Palmié conveys with unparalleled intensity the transformative power of light, which his work celebrates in all possible shades of the spectrum. Rather than a precise rendering of architectural details, his view of Marienplatz captures the fleeting impression of weather and light phenomena. Much like Rouen Cathedral in Claude Monet’s serial portrayals, Munich’s central square, which Palmié reproduced in various views in ever changing shades of color and lights, served the painter as a frequent source of artistic and coloristic experimentation. Choosing a perspective that combines monuments from three centuries, he displays the medieval Church of Our Lady, the baroque St. Mary’s Column and the New Town Hall from the mid-19th century. Palmié thus presents an ingenious vision of the continuous transformation of the city, casting it as a backdrop for modern urban life bathed in the glow of the shop windows’ electric lighting. [KT]