Vrouw plukt bloemen before 1905

Constant Puyo made this photograph in the late 19th or early 20th century, capturing a woman picking flowers. There’s a beautiful sense of softness to the image, a subtle blurring of edges that really pulls you in. It's almost like a dream, something remembered rather than directly seen, which chimes with the tradition of Pictorialism in photography, which was all about photography trying to do what painting could do. Look at the way the light filters through the trees, how it catches on the surface of the water. Notice the woman’s reflection, so clear and yet also so fragile, so ephemeral. The woman herself is both present and distant, her features obscured by the softness of the light, a figure in a landscape. The whole thing makes me think of early Impressionist painters like Camille Pissarro. There’s a similar sense of light and atmosphere, a shared interest in capturing the fleeting moments of everyday life. It's a reminder that art is always in conversation with itself, across time and across mediums.