Gezicht op een aantal kale bomen before 1902

R. Hoch's "Gezicht op een aantal kale bomen," meaning "View of a number of bare trees" in English, offers us a glimpse into a monochromatic world. Imagine the artist standing there, maybe on a cold day, squinting to see the subtle nuances of the scene. The way the light catches the branches, the puddles on the road reflecting the sky. It’s a world stripped bare, but full of texture. I wonder if Hoch was thinking about the passage of time, about cycles of growth and decay when they made this? Those bare trees almost look like they're reaching up, trying to grab hold of something. It reminds me of some of Guston's later work - a kind of starkness that gets under your skin. Painting is like a conversation across time. Artists like Hoch have been in dialogue with each other, trying to figure out what it means to see and feel and be in this world.