Automobiel op een bergweg, vermoedelijk op de Route de la Grande Chartreuse 1903

Curator: This photograph, taken in 1903, is titled "Automobiel op een bergweg, vermoedelijk op de Route de la Grande Chartreuse." Editor: It feels like stepping into a memory, that gentle sepia tone. All the trees feel so sparse, creating this narrow tunnel and highlighting the road into nowhere...with a little car puttering its way through. Sort of charmingly intrepid. Curator: Yes, the road cuts through what looks to be very imposing natural architecture. That diffused lighting lends it a dreamlike quality, and that's quite a prominent rock formation looming ahead. Notice how the automobile seems dwarfed. I think there's some suggestion of man's venture set against nature's grand and almost indifferent backdrop. Editor: Absolutely. It’s funny, I initially assumed it was just fog, but you're right. This photograph certainly showcases not only a snapshot in time but also conveys the scale between progress, represented by this car, and the environment... like the car and maybe its occupants would disappear if we weren't paying attention. A very real disappearing act between ourselves and the road ahead, perhaps? Curator: Well, the artist positioned this image, framing this idea to explore nature, in ways reminiscent of Romantic painters, the vast sublime landscapes meant to inspire awe, maybe even a touch of insignificance of human presence? Here, though, the automobile injects a sense of modernity. Editor: Modernity tentatively poking its nose in! You can almost hear the wheezing engine and feel the bumpy ride, which contrasts a world trying to change against an environment which looks more stoic and stubborn to alter with humankind’s innovation. The almost monochrome tones here adds to this sense of antiquity, despite what is featured to represent our push into an age that moves into the future at accelerated speed. A curious image of nature resisting invention... for as long as possible. Curator: It speaks of transformation, indeed. An artwork prompting ideas that linger between different world epochs of existence cohabitating together. Thank you for helping make new pathways of interpreting Delizy's piece and sharing how symbols shift in perception depending on context. Editor: Pleasure was all mine! Now every time I'm out driving, I’ll be thinking about what's waiting for me down the road, looming or otherwise.