Ruïnes van een kerk te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

J. Nolte made this photograph of the ruins of a church in Rotterdam in shades of grey. The scene is one of destruction, with the skeletal remains of a once-grand building reaching towards the sky. I can only imagine Nolte standing amidst the rubble, camera in hand, trying to capture the immensity of the devastation. The dust, the silence, the weight of history collapsing into the present—it's all there in the stark contrast of light and shadow. There's a certain rawness to it that reminds me of Goya's Disasters of War series, a similar impulse to document the brutal realities of conflict. Nolte's photograph, with its grainy texture and somber tones, becomes a powerful meditation on loss, resilience, and the enduring human spirit amidst chaos. It’s like Nolte is saying, "We were here, we suffered, but we will rebuild." Artists can do that for each other.