Malines Cathedral 1932

Emile Antoine Verpilleux made this print of Malines Cathedral, and it’s like stepping into a dream of a city. Look at how the colours melt together, it’s all soft edges, with these hazy lines, giving everything a kind of ghostly presence. What grabs me most is the texture. You can almost feel the grain of the plate, it’s like Verpilleux wanted to show you the work behind the image, the process of making art as a kind of unveiling. Notice the sky, these wispy marks that suggest clouds, or maybe the memory of clouds. They contrast so strongly with the sharp lines of the buildings, but they're made with the same language. They are these small hatch marks, like tiny, insistent whispers. I find myself wondering if he knew the work of the French printmaker, Charles Méryon, who also captured the spirit of cities with such an individual vision. It reminds me that art's an ongoing conversation, echoing across time. Ultimately, this print feels less about the place itself, but more about the feeling of a place, the stories it holds, and the way it lingers in the mind's eye.