Exterieur van het gebouw op Boulevard du Hainaut 13 te Brussel 1875

Alexandre de Blochouse captured this exterior of a building on Boulevard du Hainaut in Brussels using photography. Note the repeated vertical lines, and the symmetry of the facade. These lines speak of order and rationality, principles of the Enlightenment and the burgeoning industrial age. Yet, the delicate ornamentation whispers of the past, a longing for the elegance of the Baroque and Rococo periods. Consider the window as an eye, a recurring motif throughout art history. Here, the windows are vacant, dark. These voids evoke the subconscious, a space where the past and present collide. This reflects a collective memory, where historical styles are not merely copied but are reimagined. The cycle continues. What was once old becomes new, transformed by the anxieties and aspirations of a different age. It's a palimpsest of styles, each layer revealing something about the human spirit and its ceaseless search for meaning.