Winterlandschap before 1903

This winter landscape by P. Lüders is giving me the chills in the best possible way. I can almost feel the frosty air. I wonder what Lüders was thinking, making something so subtle, so quiet. It feels like he was trying to capture a fleeting moment, the way the light hits the snow, the bare trees against the gray sky. The paint—or perhaps it’s ink?—is applied so delicately. There is an almost photographic realism, but then the overall mood feels so painterly. Notice how he created texture with a series of soft strokes, like a whispered secret. Painters are always in conversation, you know? Lüders’ work reminds me a little of Caspar David Friedrich, with a touch of the Barbizon School. It is a reminder that painting can be a deeply personal act, a way of seeing and feeling the world that transcends words.