Rotsen en een eiland in zee in de buurt van Torquay c. 1901

This moody photograph of rocks and an island off Torquay was captured by Frits Freerks Fontein Fz. at some point during his lifetime. It’s got this whole atmospheric thing going on with its limited palette. The texture is so tactile; you can practically feel the craggy rocks and the misty sea. The tones are mostly greys and browns, with a light sky that’s almost a blank canvas. I find myself drawn to the lower corner; the shadowy, almost abstract shapes feel like a landscape in themselves, like looking at a Rothko painting. It’s easy to forget sometimes, looking at photographs, that they are as manipulated as paintings in terms of composition and light. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter’s seascapes, or maybe even a Turner painting. There's this sense of timelessness, a conversation between artists across eras. Ultimately, it's less about the subject and more about the feeling it evokes, leaving us space to bring our own stories to it.