Façade van Binnenhof 5 te Den Haag before 1901

This photograph, ‘Façade van Binnenhof 5 te Den Haag’, captures the Binnenhof in the Hague, though we don’t know exactly when, or by whom it was made. What’s interesting here is the way the monochrome palette creates a kind of overall tone, a feeling, rather than just representing a scene. I’m drawn to the texture, the way the light reveals the brickwork, the subtle variations in tone across the facade. Look closely at the door frames and the window panes, how they catch the light differently. The picture-making process becomes really clear as you consider all these material aspects. Is it possible to tell what kind of paper the photograph was printed on? Or what kind of lens was used? The way the light falls across the building, creating these shadows, reminds me of some of the architectural studies by Bernd and Hilla Becher. It's like a conversation across time, a shared interest in how we look at buildings, how we see the spaces we inhabit. Art is always an ongoing dialogue, isn't it?