Eugen Wachenheimer op een balkon in Istanbul, 1910 1910

This is a photograph from 1910 of Eugen Wachenheimer on a balcony in Istanbul, its maker remains unknown. Look how soft the image is, the limited tonal range giving it a dreamlike quality. It's less about capturing detail and more about a mood, a feeling. The image is small, but there’s a ton of information packed in. There’s this incredible sense of depth, created by the contrast between the man in the foreground and the architecture behind him. The texture isn’t in the paint, but in the grit of the photographic paper, those imperfections, they’re part of the story, too, aren’t they? Like finding beauty in the imperfect. The dark suit against the pale, almost bleached background emphasizes the figure, giving the man a noble, statuesque air. There’s something of Gerhard Richter's blurred photographs, in the way that this feels both representational and abstract. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t have to be loud to be powerful. Sometimes, it’s in the quiet moments, the subtle gestures, that we find the deepest connections.