Schilder Nicolaas van der Waay in zijn atelier after 3

Editor: This is "Schilder Nicolaas van der Waay in zijn atelier", a gelatin-silver print from around 1903. It's a photograph of a painter, Nicolaas van der Waay, in his studio. It feels like we're intruding on a very private creative space, a space cluttered with art and half-finished ideas. What jumps out at you? Curator: The layers of imagery are compelling. Notice how Van der Waay is literally surrounded by his own creations – paintings stacked upon paintings. It suggests not only his artistic output but also a kind of self-referential loop, a visual echo of artistic influence and reinterpretation. He becomes part of his work, doesn’t he? The painting of the women, repeated as if in a choir, they almost become angels watching him. Editor: That’s interesting, his identity intertwined with his art. Is there something in the iconography of that repetition that seems important to you? Curator: Repetition in art often signifies emphasis, importance, a symbolic weight. The figures are very similar, they wear similar modest dress, a uniformity suggesting communal values, or the artistic fascination with types and ideals. Are these individuals, or an ideal of womanhood? And placing himself within that space... It is potent. And the busts displayed on the mantle in the background -- are these heroes, figures of inspiration, a pantheon of artistic ancestors? The space itself becomes a layered portrait. Editor: The idea of a pantheon… that clicks. Almost as if he’s placing himself within a lineage. Does this photograph tell us something about how artists saw themselves at the time? Curator: Certainly. The photograph romanticizes artistic life as something cultivated in a uniquely symbolic space, a physical and metaphysical interior world made by the artist’s vision, perhaps an invitation to decode their work. He controls every element we can see, like a symbolic theatre, drawing us in, wanting us to know the person, know the artist, see what inspires him. Editor: That's fascinating. I didn't realize how much of a story could be told through the arrangement of objects in an artist's space. Curator: Yes, everything in art has potential meaning.