Versierd plafond in het huis op Noordeinde 140 te Den Haag 1900 - 1915

This photograph captures the decorated ceiling in the house at Noordeinde 140 in The Hague. The photographer is unknown, which I find really intriguing. Imagine the artist, or artisan, carefully layering each ornamental detail. There’s a sort of all-overness to the composition, a field of swirling forms and shapes that suggest something organic, like the ornamentation is growing before our eyes. I wonder, did the artist approach it methodically, or was there a more intuitive, improvisational process at play? Maybe they were influenced by the architecture of their time. Decoration like this feels part of an ongoing exchange of ideas. Each gesture informs the next, rippling across the surface. Decoration is an ancient occupation, so I think of all the other ornamental artists, through history, and I imagine them all in conversation, inspiring each other’s creativity. Ultimately, it’s this act of creation that brings newness into the world.