Gezicht op de Nieuwe Kerk te Groningen 1890 - 1920

This is a photograph of the Nieuwe Kerk in Groningen, made by an anonymous artist at an unknown date. The sepia tone casts everything in this lovely faded light, as if we are seeing the church through time itself. I see the church, solid and monumental, framed by bare winter trees – their branches like calligraphic marks against the sky. I wonder what it was like for the photographer setting up their camera, carefully composing the shot, waiting for the right light. Was it cold? Were they thinking about the people who built this church, the generations who have passed through its doors? Thinking about how the light falls on the building, the textures of the brick, and the way the trees reach upwards, I realize that making art is about seeing and feeling deeply. It’s about trying to capture something fleeting and ineffable, whether with paint or a lens. Artists are always in conversation with each other across time, inspiring each other’s creativity. And maybe that’s why this photograph, this moment captured so long ago, still speaks to us today.