Corry Goelst, Wilhelmina van Zijll de Jong en Henriëtte Wassink op een terras in Scheveningen 1932

This photograph captures three young women, Corry Goelst, Wilhelmina van Zijll de Jong and Henriëtte Wassink, enjoying coffee on a terrace in Scheveningen, but we don't know when or by whom it was taken. Imagine the photographer, peering through the viewfinder, trying to capture a fleeting moment of connection. There’s something so intimate about the scene, the way the women are casually arranged around the table. The greyscale brings a sense of nostalgia, emphasizing the texture of the clothing and the grainy surfaces of the café. I wonder what they were talking about? Perhaps dreams of the future, love, or just gossip. The photograph freezes them in time, and we are left to fill in the gaps of their stories. You get a sense of the ephemeral nature of existence and how we are all just passing through, leaving behind fragments of ourselves in the memories and photographs. This is what painting is all about as well, it is a record of thought, experience, and being.