Gezicht op een rij bomen en een trap before 1902

Hugo Henneberg’s “Gezicht op een rij bomen en een trap,” made with some sort of photographic process, looks to me like a scene from a dream. The tonal range is so subtle, almost like a whisper. I love how the artist has created a sense of depth and atmosphere, and that the process is so beautifully revealed by the slight blurring of the image. It’s like looking at a memory, something soft, and just out of reach. The trees themselves seem to be reaching towards the sky in a kind of desperate prayer, or maybe they’re just stretching after a long sleep. There's an area of brighter light in the top left corner of the image, a subtle gradated contrast to the darker shaded areas in the bottom right. These tonal differences are what bring your eye through the image. It reminds me of Corot's landscapes, they both share a similar sense of poetry and quiet observation, a way of seeing the world that’s both gentle and profound.