Picknick op het strand 1905 - 1910

Editor: Right now we're looking at "Picknick op het strand" which roughly translates to "Picnic on the beach", a gelatin silver print by Jacob Evert Wesenhagen made between 1905 and 1910. The mood feels simultaneously serene and sort of isolating. All those figures together, yet somehow detached. What do you make of that? Curator: Oh, I adore that contradiction! It sings to me. Think about it, a communal gathering in a vast, impersonal landscape. Wesenhagen seems to be exploring this push and pull – civilization versus nature, belonging versus solitude. Is it truly a picnic or perhaps an arranged meeting for some clandestine exchange? The figures seem quite formal. Editor: That’s a great point, they do look so still and composed. Almost like a tableau. Curator: Exactly! It's not a candid snapshot; it’s a constructed scene. What about the light? Does it seem particularly evocative to you? Editor: Now that you mention it, there's something quite melancholy about the soft grays and whites of the print. They enhance that sense of isolation, don’t they? Curator: It whispers of time passing, of moments captured and then fading into memory. Wesenhagen seems less concerned with documenting a specific event, more invested in capturing a feeling, an impression. The photograph acts more as a feeling. Like gazing at a forgotten dream. Editor: I never thought of photography being able to capture a dream like that. I was so caught up in the starkness, I forgot to look at it as impressionistic. Curator: And that, my dear friend, is the magic of art. Always another layer to uncover, another conversation to have with the artist across time. It’s the reason why I find historical photography to be such a wonderful form. Editor: Definitely! I see it so much more clearly now. I'm taking a beach day!