Portret van een onbekende vrouw c. 1900 - 1920

This is a portrait of an unknown woman by S. Zoest. Look at this woman's face: the detail around the eyes, the pursed lips, the texture of the skin... you can sense what she might have been like, and how it felt to be her. It's sepia, small, and rectangular. What would it have been like to sit for a portrait? Maybe Zoest felt empathy and connection to her subject. The camera catches her essence and communicates her feeling, her intention, her meaning. As painters, like Zoest here, we are in ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning.