De Wehrmacht trekt over de Moerdijkbrug Possibly 1940 - 1946

This small photograph captures the Wehrmacht crossing the Moerdijk bridge, and it feels like a study in contrasts, light and dark, movement and stillness. The surface is pretty uniform, a consistent tone broken up by the stark, industrial forms of the bridge and the figures moving across it. Look at how the light catches the bridge’s metal structure, almost like a skeletal framework. It contrasts sharply with the solid mass of the truck in the foreground, and even the line of soldiers, some on horseback, who seem to stretch endlessly into the distance. They give the impression of an inexorable force. It’s easy to get caught up in the historical context, but I think the anonymous artist—or photographer—was also exploring the process of seeing itself, and what it means to document a moment in time. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter’s blurred photographs turned paintings, where the focus isn’t so much on the subject as it is on the act of representation. Like all good art, it invites more questions than answers.