Twee foto's van Valkenburg, mei 1923 1923 - 1925

Hendrik Herman van den Berg made these two photographs of Valkenburg in May 1923. What strikes me is their quietness. It’s something about the way the light falls, a soft grey tone that feels both distant and intimate. On the left, we see a waterway cutting through the town, flanked by stone buildings. The water is still, reflecting the sky, but there are light patches that suggest movement. On the right, a ruin, half-overgrown with foliage. The stone is rough, textured, and seems to absorb the light. There's a sense of time, of history, etched into the very surface of the stone. It reminds me of the work of Eugène Atget, who photographed Paris at the turn of the century. Both capture a sense of place, but also a sense of absence, as if the people who once inhabited these spaces have long since gone. Art is like that, a conversation across time, a way of seeing the world through someone else's eyes.