Ruïnes van het Coolsingelziekenhuis te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

This photograph by J. Nolte captures the ruins of the Coolsingel Hospital in Rotterdam. I see a city laid bare, the skeletal remains of buildings reaching toward a heavy sky. I think of Nolte, standing amidst the rubble, trying to make sense of the devastation. The act of choosing a frame, finding a composition, it’s an attempt to bring order to chaos. The monochrome flattens the scene, but it also unifies it, drawing our attention to the textures of broken brick and twisted metal. There's a strange beauty here, a somber poetry in the way nature reclaims the spaces where life once thrived. You know, artists often return to ruins as a way to reflect on loss, but also on the resilience of the human spirit. I'm thinking of Kiefer and his vast, desolate landscapes. This image, it feels like a conversation across time, a reminder of what we can lose, and what might rise again.