Waterlandschap, met bergen op de achtergrond before 1903

This photograph of a Waterlandschap, met bergen op de achtergrond, or waterscape with mountains in the background, was made by Leopold von Waldkirch, though we don't know exactly when. What I like about it is how the image shows the world through a kind of gray-scale. The texture is what gets me; you know, how the stillness of the water plays against the detail in the mountains behind? The reflection is so smooth it's almost blurry, while the trees along the shoreline are very crisp. Look at that line where the mountains meet the sky. The stark contrast makes it feel like the scene is both near and far away. It reminds me a little bit of Gerhard Richter's landscapes - that same blurring of the line between realism and abstraction, between what's there and what we imagine. Like many landscape painters, Waldkirch plays with ambiguity, leaving plenty of room for us to dream.