Twee vrouwen aan een tafel, waarvan één de krant leest en één slaapt before 1902

This is a black and white photograph by Charles Dewit, and right away I’m struck by the coziness of the scene. The way the light falls on the sleeping woman, it almost feels like the photographer has caught her in a moment of total peace. The wallpaper, the lace tablecloth, it's all texture and pattern. And there’s this push and pull between the woman reading, so upright and alert, and the other, totally given over to sleep. The contrast makes you think about how we all have different ways of dealing with the world, some of us head-on, others retreating into dreams. It reminds me a bit of the domestic interiors of Vuillard, that same feeling of quiet observation. And like those paintings, Dewit’s photograph shows us how much can be found in the everyday, in the spaces we inhabit, and the moments we share, or don’t share, with each other.