Drie foto's van het strand van Marina Grande, Sorrento 1938 - 1950

Curator: This is a series of gelatin-silver prints, dating between 1938 and 1950, by Norbert van den Berg. They offer three views of Marina Grande in Sorrento. Editor: My immediate impression is a world caught between two eras—the charm of the old world clinging on amidst something... uncertain. There's a subtle melancholy despite the liveliness hinted at. Curator: It's interesting you pick up on that tension. These photographs were created during a pivotal time, weren't they? A pre-war optimism colliding with a post-war realism that permeates societal consciousness even now. Sorrento, as a popular destination, becomes a stage for understanding that intersectionality of leisure, memory, and the looming threat of political events. Editor: Indeed. And consider the images themselves— the silvery tones, the carefully chosen vantage points… they speak to a longing for classical ideals, the picturesque Italian coastline as an eternal symbol of beauty. The buildings climbing the cliffs read like the continuation of the natural forms themselves, a visual harmony celebrated for centuries. Curator: Precisely. Van den Berg is playing with very established visual tropes of the Grand Tour, but through the lens of interwar modernism. These aren't romantic paintings, they are sharp, realist photographs documenting life. What does it mean to claim an artistic visual language when that claim excludes the reality and historical context of people, especially the poor or those whose life circumstances prevent them from having leisure time to sight-see? The absence of a reckoning on such historical oppression leaves one to wonder: Whose Grand Tour are we really seeing? Editor: I can appreciate that, I'm struck by the repeating motif of boats in each photograph, those small dark shapes contrasting against the brighter facades. Boats carry potent symbolism, from voyages and commerce, but also fragility, given the scale of water—and the suggestion here is of constant passage, maybe escape. Do you think Van den Berg might have deliberately included these as a subtle memento mori? Curator: That’s a compelling thought, bringing us back to the tensions we felt. These photographs, while appearing serene, remind us to unpack and consider the complex layering of meaning present during moments in history of upheaval. Editor: A fittingly complex perspective for our viewers to reflect upon!