Gezicht op Jeruzalem vanaf de Olijfberg 1905

This is a photograph of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, taken anonymously in 1905, but I’m sure it’s been seen a million times since. There’s something about the sepia tone that feels both ancient and immediate, like a memory trying to surface. The buildings in the foreground are sharply defined, their forms catching the light, while the city in the background blurs into a haze of human activity. I’m drawn to the figure on the path. Burdened, maybe, but also resolute. It’s like the whole photograph is held in tension between clarity and ambiguity. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter's blurred paintings, where the act of seeing becomes as important as what is being seen. Except here, instead of paint, it’s time and distance that do the blurring. Ultimately, it's a reminder that art, like memory, is always a process of negotiation between what is present and what is just beyond our grasp.