Portret 1940 - 1945

This portrait, its maker now unknown, captures a soldier in shades of grey. It's so interesting, how such a muted palette can still speak volumes. It makes you think about the constraints the artist was working with, and how those limitations might have actually fueled their creativity. Look at the way the light catches the soldier's cheekbone, it's almost sculptural. You can almost feel the texture of the paper, the slight imperfections giving it a real sense of history, of being touched and held, a tangible link to the past. It is like looking at the world through someone else's eyes, trying to understand their perspective, their hopes, and maybe even their fears. It reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter's blurred portraits, that sense of something just out of reach, a memory fading. In both, there's an acknowledgement that the truth is always slippery, always filtered through our own experiences.