Brandend Rotterdam Possibly 1940 - 1945

This photograph, titled Brandend Rotterdam, captures Rotterdam in flames. The image is awash with greys, from the plume of smoke filling the sky to the smoldering buildings below. I can’t help but think about the anonymous artist who made this work. I wonder where they were standing, what they were thinking, and what compelled them to capture such devastation. It’s a bleak image, a document of destruction, but within its starkness there’s a strange beauty. The billowing smoke against the horizon, the geometry of the buildings somehow still standing… The artist could have made a more detailed or precise depiction of the scene, but instead they present a blurry and impressionistic view of a horrific event. There is a feeling that emerges from this picture, of a specific time, a fleeting moment, and a personal vision of disaster. Photography continues the conversation about what it means to be a painter, or any kind of image maker—a person trying to translate what they see, feel, and understand onto a surface.