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

This is a vintage photograph by Tan Tjie Lan, it pictures a classroom setting. The tones are soft, almost like a memory fading at the edges. It’s the kind of image that invites you to look closer, to see what it might reveal. There’s a stillness to this photograph, isn't there? The light fixtures hanging from the ceiling and the shadows on the floor create a sense of depth, which I love. But what really gets me is the people in the scene - the man in the white suit and the students at their desks. They’re all frozen in time, yet each figure tells a story. I think the beauty of photography, like painting, is that it's never just about what's on the surface. It's about the layers beneath, the emotions, the histories, the conversations that are always ongoing, much like the art world itself. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter's blurred photos, these pieces allow for that space of ambiguity, suggesting meanings rather than dictating them.