Gezicht op de Castor en de Pollux before 1868

This is Louis Ghémar’s 19th-century photograph of the Castor and Pollux mountains, held within a book. Ghémar, a Belgian photographer operating a studio in Brussels, gained prominence as a portraitist of bourgeois society. The photograph captures the towering peaks of the Swiss Alps, named after the twins of Greek mythology. In the 19th century, mountain landscapes evoked ideas of the sublime, inspiring a mix of awe and fear, and, because of that, became a popular subject of artistic exploration. Mountaineering and landscape photography were male-dominated activities at the time. Often, mountain landscapes stood as symbols of masculine strength and conquest. However, when we see a book open to an image of mountains, it invites a different, more intimate viewing experience. It makes me wonder about our relationship with nature, and how we can embrace our vulnerability in the face of nature's grandeur. Ghémar’s photograph invites us to contemplate the emotional and personal dimensions of our connection to the environment.