Gedeelte van de kasteelruïne te Batenburg 1906

This old photograph of the castle ruin at Batenburg, with its sepia tones, feels like a ghost story caught on film. The anonymous photographer has used a restricted palette of browns and grays to capture a scene of decay, making the act of looking itself feel like a process of excavation. The surface of the print is smooth, but the image reveals the rough texture of the ruined stone, mirrored in the still water. Those horizontal bands of brick still clinging to the round tower—they’re like a faded memory of order against the chaos of nature reclaiming its space. It's interesting that the damage feels so much like organic growth. It reminds me of a Cy Twombly painting, where layers of history are scratched and scribbled into a surface. Both artists, in their own ways, invite us to contemplate the passage of time and the beauty of impermanence. It’s a reminder that art, like life, is about embracing the unfinished, the broken, and the beautifully ambiguous.