Portret van een onbekende man die de krant leest before 1902

This black and white photograph of an unknown man reading a newspaper by Rudolf Ganz feels so intimate, like an everyday moment captured just for us. I imagine Ganz watching this man, perhaps in a café, and deciding to document this quiet moment, his focus, his absorption. It reminds me of the early days of photography when capturing reality felt like magic. The light is soft, almost hazy, giving the image a dreamlike quality. You can almost hear the rustling of the newspaper, the clinking of cups, the murmur of voices around him. I’m reminded of artists like Gerhard Richter, who also blurred the lines between photography and painting, memory and reality. This small image encapsulates a whole world, a whole story, and invites us to imagine the man's life, his thoughts, his dreams. It's a reminder of how much beauty and complexity can be found in the ordinary.