Portret van een staand meisje met bloemen in de hand, staand bij een gedecoreerde bank 1900 - 1911

This is a standing portrait of a girl with flowers, attributed to Pieter Willem Leonard Numan, we don't know when. I wonder about the young girl’s life when this picture was taken. She’s standing there so formally with her flowers, but it’s the bench that draws me in. It feels like the theatrical mask on the bench is in on a secret. It knows what we don’t. Did Numan set out to paint a formal portrait, or did the scene evolve through playful curiosity? I get the sense that he embraced the quirks and imperfections, turning what could have been a straightforward portrait into something much more intriguing. You can almost feel Numan experimenting with a light palette here to create a dreamy, atmospheric quality. It reminds me of other painters who used photography like Degas, or Bonnard who were inspired by the everyday to see the world anew, each encouraging us to find beauty in the unexpected.