Gezicht op een aantal bomen aan een sloot before 1902

This is a view of trees near a ditch, made by Karl Leo Kusmitsch, though I can't tell you exactly when. I like the hazy quality, like a memory half-seen, half-forgotten. The artist is working with a limited palette, but look how much he achieves through variations of tone. There’s a real stillness here, the smooth surface of the water reflecting the trees like a mirror, so it's hard to know what's solid and what’s reflection. The artist doesn’t give us a sense of scale; that reflected light could be the moon, or it could be a streetlamp, and the trees could be huge, old oaks or smaller saplings. That ambiguity is what makes this piece so interesting. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter’s blurred landscapes, where the process of painting becomes a way of questioning our perception of reality. It's a gentle reminder that art doesn't always offer easy answers.