Climbing with Pieter Dirk van der Poel, Canton of Valais 1944

This small photograph, made by Robert Frank in the Canton of Valais, captures a landscape through a lens of fleeting light. The tones are beautifully modulated – soft greys that shift and shimmer, almost like watercolors. Look how the light itself seems tangible, caught between the mountain peaks and the swirling clouds. The surface has a slightly worn quality, a few imperfections here and there. There's a horizontal line near the top that could be a crease or a scratch, but it doesn't detract; instead, it adds to the sense of a lived-in image, a document of a particular moment and place. The black spots could be dust or damage, but they almost echo the feeling of being outside, exposed to the elements. Frank’s approach reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter's blurred paintings. Both artists find a way to inject something deeply personal into their work, something that feels raw and authentic. It's like they're saying, "This is how I see the world, and it's not always perfect, but it's real."