Brandend Rotterdam Possibly 1940 - 1945

This undated photograph called Brandend Rotterdam, by an anonymous artist, feels like a snapshot of something that is both there and not there. The grainy texture and limited palette of blacks, whites, and grays give it a raw, almost unfinished quality. It’s like the artist was trying to capture a moment that was already slipping away. I’m drawn to the cloud of smoke that dominates the upper half of the frame. It's rendered with such a delicate touch, almost as if the artist was afraid to define it too much, to pin it down. And yet, it's the most powerful element of the piece, a visual representation of chaos and destruction. The photograph reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s blurry paintings. Both artists seem to be grappling with the elusive nature of memory and the difficulty of representing traumatic events. There’s something about the ambiguity of the image that makes it so compelling. It invites us to fill in the gaps, to project our own experiences and emotions onto the scene. Ultimately, it’s a reminder that art is not about providing answers, but about asking questions.