Koosje Ochse, zittend aan een tafel voor het strandhuis De Wijde Blick in Valkeveen c. 1923 - 1930

This photograph depicts Koosje Ochse sitting at a table in front of the beach house De Wijde Blick in Valkeveen, but it’s all so dark and mysterious, like a half-forgotten dream. The surface has this aged quality, almost like a painting where the varnish has yellowed over time. The greens and whites in the decorative border feel both fresh and faded, a weird mix that I kind of love. I find my eyes drawn to the way the dark browns and blacks obscure the details of Koosje’s figure, especially around her hands. It’s as though time itself is a kind of pigment, blurring the lines and softening the edges of memory. Think of the painter Gerhard Richter, who blurs his photographs in paint, pushing them back into the realm of the abstract. This photograph, in its own way, does something similar, reminding us that seeing is never just about clarity, but about feeling, memory, and the passage of time.