Anatomische foto van een vrouwelijk lijk: 'de vorm van de borstpartij in relatie tot het skelet' (Die Form der Brust in ihren Beziehungen zum Skelette] 1908

Giulio Chiarugi made this photograph, overlaid with graphic marks, to study the relationship between the female form and the skeleton. There’s something so moving about the way he’s thinking through seeing, using a kind of visual logic to map out the body's interior. I find myself tracing the simple yellow lines of the ribcage, imagining them as marks on a canvas. The chalky color feels so fragile against the tonal complexity of the photograph. It’s like Chiarugi is teaching us a way to see through the surface. The cool detachment of this approach reminds me of some of the early modernists, like Picasso, who also took inspiration from scientific diagrams and photography. But, of course, Chiarugi is coming at it from a totally different angle, driven by the desire to understand, not just represent. And that makes all the difference.