Oorlogsvluchtelingen in de sneeuw Possibly 1914

Alfred Ost made this small watercolour painting, "War Refugees in the Snow," and, wow, the blue and grey palette is so simple yet evocative. I can almost feel the cold seeping in! I wonder what it was like for Ost to create this; did he feel heavyhearted, watching the plight of these refugees trudging through the snow? The way he’s applied these icy blue washes, layering the figures into the landscape, speaks to a kind of empathy, don’t you think? Look at the line of the woman’s mouth – that downward turn. And the weight of those bags she carries! It's a powerful gesture, that subtle droop, communicating exhaustion and despair. It reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz’s prints – that same raw emotion, pared down to the essential. Artists have always responded to the world around them, and this painting is Ost’s way of entering that conversation, capturing a moment of human suffering. It shows how paintings can create new ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling the world.