It is a common observation, both alarming and fascinating: everything captured in images no longer exists or no longer exists in the depicted form. The theme of transience is often symbolically represented in art, serving as a Memento Mori or a melancholic meditation on the disappearance of things. Images of dreams, encounters with people, and explorations of nature depict only fleeting moments. Sometimes, the ephemeral becomes the explicit theme of a depiction that nonetheless seeks to capture it: clouds are constantly changing, snow soon melts, and trees bloom only for a short time.

In times of climate change, the awareness that our entire environment is rapidly changing has become omnipresent. Therefore, we view works of landscape art today with different eyes. They show a nature that has always been influenced by humans. A landscape is no longer just a beautiful view but a threatened ecosystem.

The exhibition is built around such moments of realization. It showcases both well-known and rare or previously unseen works from the 19th and 20th centuries from the collections of the Lenbachhaus, the Historical Society of Upper Bavaria, the Christoph Heilmann Foundation, the Munich Secession, the Gabriele Münter and Johannes Eichner Foundation, the KiCo Foundation, and the Friends of Lenbachhaus e. V. The art engages with the transient and with the awareness of transience, aligning with the museum's mission to collect, preserve, and convey artworks.