Portret van een onbekende man 1902 - 1906

Machiel Hendricus Laddé made this small portrait of an unknown man in Amsterdam. It’s a photograph, so it wasn’t painted, exactly, but Laddé still had to make choices about how to bring the image into being. What kind of light to use? How to pose the sitter? How to coax out something of his inner life? There’s an intimacy to the image; the soft focus makes it feel like we’re seeing this man as if through a dream. I wonder what Laddé was thinking about as he looked through the lens. I wonder if he knew the sitter. Did they talk? I imagine Laddé trying to create an atmosphere of ease, of trust. The softness of the image feels like a gesture of kindness, don’t you think? All artists are in conversation with each other, building on what’s come before and suggesting new possibilities. Whether we’re working with paint or light, our work is always about making choices, embracing uncertainty, and trying to make something beautiful.