Gezicht op het Centraal Station in Amsterdam, op de voorgrond de Prins Hendrikkade met twee karren en marskramers 1904

James Higson made this photograph of the Centraal Station in Amsterdam, along the Prins Hendrikkade, probably sometime around the turn of the century. The image is suffused with a warm, sepia tone, like a memory half-forgotten. What I find striking is the detail Higson captures despite the limitations of early photography. Look at the cobblestones on the quay, each one distinct, or the intricate architecture of the train station. The foreground is filled with the hustle and bustle of everyday life: two carts, merchants, and passersby. Their forms and the texture of the cobblestones give the image a tactile quality, as if you could reach out and feel the grit and weight of the scene. It's like stepping into another world, a world that feels both distant and strangely familiar. This reminds me a bit of the painter Giorgio Morandi, who also found beauty in the everyday, transforming simple objects into profound meditations on form and space. Art is always having a conversation with itself across time.