Exterieur van het huis van de familie Poolman-Beyne op tabaksplantage Mariendal van de Deli Maatschappij te Medan c. 1900 - 1920

This photograph captures the exterior of the Poolman-Beyne family home on the Mariendal tobacco plantation, taken in Medan by an anonymous photographer. The tones are muted, almost like a memory fading, and yet the image feels really solid, capturing the light in the eaves of the house, the angle of the veranda, and the lush foliage. It’s a scene of colonial wealth and privilege; look at that car! And that neatly cropped lawn. But there’s also something melancholic, the stillness of the composition perhaps, or the way the details are softened by the photographic process. The pillars holding up the veranda have a beautifully rendered, rounded quality and the contrast between these shapes and the rigid geometry of the architecture is fascinating. Like a painting, this photograph is more than just a record of a particular place and time; it’s also a meditation on seeing and remembering. Like the paintings of Edward Hopper, this photograph is imbued with a sense of stillness, drawing the viewer into a world of quiet contemplation. The longer you look, the more you see, and the more questions arise.