Klönthalsee, Zwitserland c. 1890 - 1925

Photoglob & Co. made this photograph of Klönthalsee, Zwitserland, and it’s now held at the Rijksmuseum. Look how the monochromatic palette blends the mountain and the lake almost into a single plane, an exercise in texture. It's almost as if you could reach out and feel the cool water or the rough, craggy rocks. And then, notice that little path winding along the water's edge. There's a tiny horse-drawn carriage, barely visible, like a whisper of human presence against the backdrop of this overwhelming natural landscape. That detail suggests Caspar David Friedrich, who loved to do the same thing, to put a little human being in a huge landscape. Photoglob reminds us that art isn't just about representation; it's about feeling, about connecting with the world around us in ways that words often fail to capture.