Tijdens de overtocht van Frankrijk naar de Verenigde Staten, Atlantische Oceaan 1936

This photograph, taken by Wouter Cool during a voyage from France to the United States, is a study in monochrome, a dance of greys that evokes the churning Atlantic. The grainy texture gives it an immediacy, like a snapshot wrested from the heart of the storm. The image is bisected, ship on the left, roiling ocean on the right. The vessel's structure is solid, a jumble of mechanical parts rendered in shades that are almost comforting in their stability, while the sea is all restless energy. Look at the way the waves break and froth, each one unique, ephemeral, and full of movement. It's almost painterly, the way Cool captures the light on the water, turning chaos into a kind of brutal beauty. I am reminded of the seascapes of Gustave Courbet, those raw, unflinching portraits of the ocean’s power. Cool's photograph and Courbet's paintings both capture something elemental, a primal force that dwarfs our human concerns. It reminds us that art, at its best, is about bearing witness.