Begrafenis, mogelijk van Breitner 1923

This photograph, possibly of the funeral of Dutch artist George Breitner, captures a somber scene with a somber palette. It feels like a drawing in charcoal, with so many mid-tones blending into each other and creating depth. You can just see the weather in it. It’s a study in greys and blacks, punctuated by the lighter tones of faces and flowers. There’s a real sense of texture in the image, not in a tactile way, but through the way the light catches on the fabrics and the foliage. The eye is drawn to the speaker at the centre, whose dark suit and hat almost absorb the light, making him a focal point but it's also a very dark and blank space. The way that the photograph has been constructed makes me think of the work of someone like Eugène Atget, an artist who understood that the best photographs come from observation. I like to think that art is a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas, and this photograph really shows us something of that. And sometimes, it’s a conversation with no real conclusion, which is probably fine too.