Parade van auto’s op de wereldtentoonstelling in St. Louis (Louisiana Purchase Exposition), 1904

Jan Schüller’s 1904 photograph captures a car parade at the World's Fair in St. Louis using a muted, monochromatic palette. It's a reminder that artmaking is as much about the process as the subject. Look closely at the grainy texture, it's so different from our crisp digital images today. The faded tones evoke a sense of nostalgia, almost like a half-remembered dream. The dark shadows give way to bleached highlights, obscuring the details of the cars and the crowd, so that they become mere suggestions of themselves. There's a push and pull between what's visible and what's hidden, what's remembered and what's forgotten. Schüller’s slightly out-of-focus photograph feels reminiscent of early modernist works, with their interest in capturing a fleeting moment. It invites us to contemplate the passage of time and the way our memories fade and shift. Like art itself, photography is not about capturing a definitive truth, but about offering a unique perspective on the world.