Gezicht op een veld met hyacinthen, met op de achtergrond huizen aan de Ramplaan te Overveen c. 1907 - 1914

Adolphe Burdet made this small glass plate image of a hyacinth field and some houses in Overveen. It has a strangely subdued color palette that makes you think, what colors did he have available to him? The image is fairly simple. There is a large field of hyacinths and some houses in the background. It seems that his process involved some experimentation with photographic dyes and toners, which are quite muted. The surface of the image is rather matte, which contributes to its dreamy quality, and the marks are quite small, giving a sense of detail to the field of flowers. I’m drawn to the way the houses in the background seem to peek out from behind the flowers, as if they are trying to get a better look, and makes me think of the landscape paintings of Pierre Bonnard. Like Bonnard, Burdet embraces a certain ambiguity, so while not a profound picture, it’s a reminder that art can be found in the everyday, and in unexpected places.