Paleis aan het plein Naghsh-e Jahan, Isfahan, Perzië Possibly 1925

This black and white photograph, by A.G.A. van Eelde, captures the Paleis aan het plein Naghsh-e Jahan, Isfahan in Perzië. It's not just a record; it's an impression, a kind of soft focus memory. The beauty of photography, like painting, is in the layers. Look at the ground, almost like a stage, vast and empty. It's broken only by the faintest lines in the dirt. The palace behind, with its arches and columns, feels solid, yet there's a lightness, an airiness, like it could almost float away. There's an ambiguity here that I really dig. The flatness of the image contrasts with the depth it still manages to create. The human figure on the right suggests a grand scale. Van Eelde is playing with how we see, suggesting that the real picture is not just what's there but how it makes us feel. Like the paintings of Agnes Martin, it's less about the image itself and more about the space it opens up.