Gedeelte van de Grote Kerk te Breda 1890 - 1920

Here we have a section of the Grote Kerk in Breda, photographed anonymously, and recorded by Monumentenzorg. The tones are so soft, like a faded memory. Look at the surface of the stone, so worn and weathered, like old skin. The photographer is interested in the surface quality, the pattern-making, the tonal modulations across the stone. The eye is drawn to the ornate window frames, and the interplay between the intricate stone carvings and the strong horizontal lines of the window panes. For me, the real magic happens at the apex of the left-hand window, where the stone appears to crumble and dissolve into the atmosphere. The photographer shows us that the stone doesn't last forever, and that we can see the evidence of time in the building. I am reminded of the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher, German conceptual artists and photographers, who made photographic series of industrial buildings. This feels like an earlier, more romantic example of that impulse. Ultimately, it's a poetic meditation on time, decay, and the beauty of impermanence.