Man die over de reling van een schip kijkt 1936

Here's a small photograph by Wouter Cool depicting a man looking over the railing of a ship. It's all shadows, right? And the way he's leaning, I can imagine Cool might've been thinking about all those Romantic painters looking out to sea. It’s that feeling of longing, of wanting something just out of reach. I wonder what he saw out there, beyond the edge of the ship? Was it hope, regret, or just the endless, unknowable horizon? It reminds me of being in my studio, wrestling with a canvas, trying to capture some elusive feeling. The way the shadows stretch and distort gives the scene a slightly uneasy feeling – is it a sunny day, or is it just a trick of the light? Photography and painting, like art, all in conversation with each other, each trying to catch hold of the same slippery thing. I think that’s what art-making is really about. That’s the shared language across time, isn't it?