Westzijde van Kasteel Hoensbroek 1903

This hazy photograph of Westzijde van Kasteel Hoensbroek is by an anonymous photographer, and the tones feel so muted, almost as if the image itself is fading, or remembering. There’s a certain stillness to this image, which seems appropriate given the subject matter. It feels like an early experiment, like a sketch for a painting where the artist is trying to capture the monumentality and density of the castle. I love how the foreground seems to dissolve into this kind of blurry texture. You can almost feel the dampness of the grass. That soft focus makes the whole thing feel ghostly. I can almost see echoes of Atget in this picture, with his Parisian street scenes shrouded in fog. It reminds us that seeing isn't always believing, and that art—in any form—can be as much about feeling and sensing as it is about concrete representation.