Groepsportret van een gezelschap rond een tafel 1899 - 1910

This photograph of a group around a table, by Paul Ferdinand Götte, now hangs in the Rijksmuseum. The silver tones feel muted, restrained - perhaps the artist was making a point about the quietude of bourgeois life, or maybe he was just interested in how light can transform a scene. I can imagine him in his studio, fiddling with the camera settings, trying to capture the essence of this gathering. Look at the way the faces seem to emerge from the shadows, each one with its own story etched in light and shade. I wonder if Götte was thinking about the Dutch Masters when he made this; I can imagine him looking to Rembrandt. The way Götte captured the relationships between these individuals - the proximity, the gazes - speaks to the intimate connections between the past and present. Artists are always in conversation, drawing on one another’s energies and ideas.