Duinlandschap De Muy, Texel 1900 - 1930

This dreamy photograph, ‘Duinlandschap De Muy, Texel’ was taken by Richard Tepe. Just imagine him there, probably with a large format camera, composing the image and then waiting patiently for the light. There’s something about this scene, the way the flat planes of the landscape recede into the distance, that reminds me of some of the early modernist painters. It’s like a proto-abstract painting that is so invested in flattening. It’s a space that's both real and imagined. It has these incredible, tactile textures; the clumps of grass in the foreground, the water surface in the midground, the distant horizon line. I can feel the wind and smell the salt air. The tones are muted, almost monochromatic, but there’s a real sense of atmosphere and light. It reminds you that artists are always having this conversation across time, always looking and learning and discovering new ways of seeing.