Westelijke façade van het Parthenon before 1910

This photograph of the Western façade of the Parthenon was taken by Frédéric Boissonnas sometime in the early 20th century, and reproduced in a book. It’s more grey than black, more light than shade. This image feels so much about the surface of things, the texture of stone, the way light softens hard edges. Look at how the columns seem to have been eaten away. The eye is drawn in, moving along the uneven surfaces, finding detail in the ruin. It's about the process of seeing, of time passing. The surface is almost worn away, giving it a kind of ghostly presence. Think about someone like Cy Twombly. I'm thinking of his paintings of classical sculptures, the way he scratched into the surface of the paint, leaving traces of movement. This photograph captures that same kind of feeling, that sense of something ancient and enduring, but also fragile and fleeting. Art is about exchange, and conversation. It is never really over.