Ruïnes in de Zalmhaven met schepen te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

This photograph of the Zalmhaven ruins with ships in Rotterdam, by J. Nolte, captures a moment frozen in time. The stark monochrome palette emphasizes the devastation, but also the resilience of the scene. It’s like Nolte is saying, "I'm here, I saw this, and now, so do you." The texture in this photograph is fascinating. You can almost feel the roughness of the ruined building, the way the light catches the edges of each broken window. The sky is full of smoke. Your eyes keep finding new details. The diagonal lines of the docks in the foreground disrupt any sense of formal perspective. It makes me think of artists like Anselm Kiefer, who use texture and imagery to confront history. Like Kiefer, Nolte reminds us that art isn't just about beauty; it's about bearing witness, about grappling with the past, and keeping the conversation going. Art is a form that embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations over fixed or definitive meanings.