Een Wehrmacht luitenant met twee paarden 1940 - 1945

Editor: This is "Een Wehrmacht luitenant met twee paarden," or "A Wehrmacht Lieutenant with Two Horses," taken sometime between 1940 and 1945 by an anonymous photographer, here at the Rijksmuseum. It has such a staged and formal feeling, but also something quite sad. What strikes you when you look at this? Curator: Ah, yes, the stiff formality, the quiet melancholy hanging in the air like a fog. I wonder, what story does this photograph truly want to tell us? On one level, it's a portrait of power, of control – the officer, the horses, the rigid composition. But I also see vulnerability. Notice how close he is to the horses; almost as if he needs them to project strength. Editor: That's interesting – I hadn't really considered that need for the horses to be there as something for support and strength. Curator: Photography from this era often functioned as propaganda, designed to project a certain image. But look closer – there’s a weariness in the officer’s eyes, a kind of hollow pride. These seemingly perfect moments often conceal complex layers. Don't you find it strange there's a hidden language that photographs from wartime never completely reveal, leaving the viewer searching? Editor: I definitely see that now, and it makes me think about all the unseen stories that lie beneath the surface of so many historical photographs. There is definitely some untold pain behind the Lieutenant's facade. Curator: Precisely! That push and pull – the presented narrative versus the implied reality – that's where the real juice lies, I think. Each time we visit such photograph, a new ghost calls on us for recognition. Editor: It really makes you think differently about portraiture and its capacity for not just documentation, but also concealment and suggestion. Curator: Absolutely! And it’s that dance between revelation and mystery that keeps us coming back, doesn’t it? Keeps those old stories breathing, just a little.