Portret van een keukenmedewerker en een man in uniform 1941 - 1945

This small black and white photograph, currently held at the Rijksmuseum, captures a kitchen worker alongside a man in uniform. It’s a moment frozen in time, anonymous, yet speaking volumes about the relationship between these two individuals. I wonder about the light that day, and the mood in the air. There is an intimacy in the way they stand together that suggests a story beyond the surface. What’s with the guy and his eye patch? The handwritten inscription, “Der Küchenbulle und sein Gast”, adds another layer of mystery. Who wrote this and what might it reveal? Photography, like painting, is a translation of reality into something else entirely. This image invites us to pause and reflect, to consider the countless untold stories that lie hidden within the frame, much like the brushstrokes and layers of paint in a painting.