Eleonora's jump 2016

Alfred Freddy Krupa made this photograph, Eleonora's jump, sometime in his life. The picture plane is mostly water, with the disturbance of the body breaking through the surface. The colour palette is predominantly muted blues and greys. The artist must have been thinking about this moment of impact, of submersion. I’m drawn to the splash, that bursting moment of entry. It's almost like a painterly gesture, isn't it? A spontaneous eruption of water frozen in time. Look at how the light catches the droplets, turning them into ephemeral jewels. The rest of the water is quite still, serene, but the action is where she jumps. It reminds me of David Hockney's swimming pool paintings, but with a twist. Here, we're not invited to observe from a distance; we're plunged right into the heart of the action. Is this art? Is it just a photo? Does it matter? What's important is that you feel it.