Ruïne van het schip van de Grote of Sint-Laurenskerk te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

This photograph by J. Nolte captures the Ruin of the Great or St. Lawrence Church in Rotterdam. It’s made with light and shadow, not paint, but still, it’s all about mark-making. Look at how the sunlight carves out the shapes of the columns. The light seems to almost physically erode the stone, doesn't it? I love how the stark black and white gives everything a kind of graphic quality. There’s a tension between the depth of the architectural space and the flatness of the photograph. It reminds me of Piranesi’s etchings of Roman ruins. Both artists find beauty in decay, a kind of sublime melancholy. They both remind us that art is about seeing – and maybe even more, about feeling – the world around us, in all its messy, imperfect glory.