Man met paard en wagen bij een boerderij in de sneeuw in Crooswijk c. 1905 - 1907

Folkert Idzes de Jong made this small photograph of a man with a horse and wagon near a farm in the snow in Crooswijk. It's tricky since we don't know when exactly it was made. The sepia tones create a muted scene, full of subtle shades that speak to the quiet cold. The photograph surface itself seems smooth, almost untouched, which lets the image speak with a directness. Look closely at the trees. They're bare, their branches tracing lines across the sky like delicate brushstrokes. There's a fragility there, but also a stark beauty. I'm reminded of the photographs of Eugène Atget who obsessively documented the streets of Paris, looking for beauty in the ordinary. Both are committed to the process of looking, turning the everyday into something worthy of contemplation. Art like this invites us to slow down, and find the extraordinary in the ordinary.