Oorlogsvluchtelingen in de sneeuw Possibly 1914

Alfred Ost rendered Oorlogsvluchtelingen in de sneeuw—that's 'War Refugees in the Snow'—with watercolor and crayon. This piece feels immediate, the kind of work where you see the artist thinking through the strokes. Look at the marks. They’re dry and scratchy, which creates a sense of rawness. The color palette is muted, almost desaturated, adding to the somber mood, but there’s still this weird, bright, almost defiant blue in the woman's skirt. Notice how the artist uses thin washes of color, allowing the paper to breathe through, but then, there are these chunky crayon outlines that give the figures weight, like they're being pulled down. The woman's face, etched with distress, is particularly striking. You can almost feel the cold and the weight of her burden. This blend of vulnerability and strength reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz, who also captured the human cost of conflict with unflinching honesty. It shows art is always a dialogue, a conversation across time and space.