Een vrouw en twee jongens op het dek van een schip 1904 - 1905

This vintage photograph, now at the Rijksmuseum, captures a woman and two boys on what looks like the deck of a ship. I’m immediately drawn to the formality of the subjects. It's interesting to consider the narrative behind this image, the relationships between the subjects, their stories, and their lives. The light and shadow play across their figures, enhancing the mood. It reminds me that art isn’t just about what you see, but what you feel. I always try to make my paintings more about feeling than seeing. How can paint capture the essence of a moment, a person, a place? How can different tones and depths of dark capture a mood? Artists are constantly in conversation, riffing off each other’s ideas, whether they know it or not. It's like a big, ongoing jam session across time. Painting is an embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, and allowing for multiple interpretations.