Fotoreproductie van een prent van de ruïne van het kasteel Batenburg before 1908

This photo reproduction of a print of the Batenburg castle ruins was made by Benjamin Charlé. It’s pale, almost ghostly. I imagine Charlé, in 1845, carefully etching each line, trying to capture the weight of history in those crumbling stones. Look at the way the light catches the edges, how the texture of the paper seems to mimic the rough surface of the ruin itself. It's easy to imagine Charlé standing there sketching, maybe a little melancholic, thinking about the past, about time passing. Artists are always talking to each other, across time, riffing on ideas, pushing them further. Charlé is part of that conversation; each mark, a little echo of what came before, and a whisper of what's to come. Painting isn't about answers; it's about asking questions, about trying to figure things out, and about embracing the messy, beautiful uncertainty of it all.