Een der, aan één zijde, open leerlocalen c. 1902

Tan Tjie Lan made this photograph of a classroom. It is hard to tell how the artist made this work or how long it took them, but I imagine them carefully composing this shot, waiting to see what the right moment might be. What might the experience of capturing such an image have been like? Were the subjects aware of the camera? Were they asked to pose? The light is beautiful and it draws the viewer's eye to the centre of the frame. I'm also struck by the composition, so full of leading lines, and by the tonal qualities. It reminds me a little of the pictures of Candida Höfer. You can just feel all the human activity that has taken place here. It is a very suggestive image. In the end, all art, whether painting or photography, is a conversation between artists across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. There are multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed or definitive readings.