Familie Kessler in avondkleding op het bordes van landhuis Pauw 1913

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler created this photograph of the Kessler family in evening wear at Landhuis Pauw, but the exact date is unknown. Think about Kessler setting up this shot, placing his family, arranging them in a way that says something about them, and about himself. The photograph feels almost like a painting in its composition and arrangement. There is an atmosphere of familial ease. I wonder what it was like for Kessler, whose life took a tragic turn, to look back on this photograph. Did he imagine, when he took this picture, what the future held? Did he imagine his own death at a relatively young age? Photographs are so interesting in this way, aren’t they? They capture a moment, but they also invite us to imagine the moments before and after, the feelings and thoughts of the people in the picture. They are an invitation into another person's world, a conversation across time.