Sunset over Waterloo Bridge 1916

Editor: So, this is Emile Claus’s "Sunset over Waterloo Bridge," painted in 1916. It's an oil painting, and it just sort of glows. It's making me feel a little melancholic. All those hazy layers... What do you see in it? Curator: Melancholy’s a great starting point! I see the year it was painted -1916, right in the middle of the First World War – that adds another layer, doesn’t it? Imagine Claus, a Belgian artist in exile, looking across the Thames. All that impasto – that thick application of paint - it’s like the air itself is vibrating with light and loss. Does it evoke any other feelings for you, that tension between beauty and, well, dread? Editor: Definitely! The way the sun dominates the canvas almost feels overwhelming. It's beautiful, but that bridge seems tiny and fragile underneath it. Almost impermanent. Curator: Exactly! And isn't it fascinating how he captures the industrial haze of London as this luminous, almost ethereal glow? It's like he's finding beauty in the grittiness, maybe even finding a kind of hope in the face of despair. The realism is there, yet he's drifting to Impressionism, where subjectivity is more evident. Editor: It's a clever contrast. So the 'hope' is like, the silver lining of industry or something? Or resilience in times of struggle? Curator: Perhaps both, perhaps neither. Claus gives us an invitation, not an explanation. What I find quite poignant is how Claus found refuge in England because of the war, while other English artists went off to war, never to be seen again... That might make someone stop and think, hey. I can't believe I'm still seeing things that might've previously gone right over my head. Editor: Absolutely! I came in thinking just pretty colors but I am leaving with much more context. That's beautiful.