Koningin Wilhelmina, prinses Juliana en burgemeester van de Vlugt te Amsterdam Possibly 1930 - 1935

This photograph capturing Queen Wilhelmina, Princess Juliana, and Burgemeester van de Vlugt in Amsterdam, was made by Vereenigde Foto-bureaux Amsterdam. It’s a study in tonality, all greys and whites, with these big fluffy collars framing the faces of the women. I love the softness of the image. It’s like the world is just slightly out of focus, which sort of mirrors how memory works, right? Look at the way the light catches the fur, how it creates these halos around their heads. There’s something almost painterly about it; it reminds me of the way Gerhard Richter sometimes blurs his photo-based paintings, making them feel both present and distant. And the composition, with the three figures striding forward, has this confident, almost cinematic quality. The artist's framing and subtle manipulation of light transforms a simple documentary image into something dreamlike and evocative. Like a scene from a movie you can’t quite recall.