Koppelelement bij een electriciteitsmast op onbekende locatie in de Verenigde Staten 1936

This photograph of an electricity pylon in the United States was taken by Wouter Cool at an unknown date. The starkness of the utilitarian scene is compelling. Cool must have been excited by the drama of the industrial landscape. I can imagine Wouter Cool, camera in hand, feeling the same way I do when I start a new canvas—a sense of anticipation mixed with the pressure to capture something essential. He saw a stark beauty in these giants of the electrical grid. The high-contrast monochrome adds a sense of timelessness, a nod to the enduring impact of technology on our world. Cool has really isolated the main electrical elements against the sky, making them pop. Painters and photographers are always in dialogue, I think, trading ideas, inspiring new ways of seeing. We capture fleeting moments, freeze them in time, and invite others to contemplate their significance. It’s a quiet conversation across generations.