Portret van Margo Kessler-de Lange, achter haar Dolph tijdens een boswandeling in de Harz c. 1903 - 1908

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler captured this photographic portrait of Margo Kessler-de Lange during a forest walk in the Harz. The flowing stream, a life-giving force, is a prominent feature. Throughout art history, the motif of flowing water carries profound symbolic weight, often representing life, purification, and the passage of time. Consider, for instance, the ancient Greek concept of "panta rhei," everything flows, attributed to Heraclitus, which emphasizes the impermanence of existence. Water, with its ceaseless movement and transformative power, has also been used to express emotional states. Think of Ophelia’s tragic drowning, forever immortalized by painters. The stream in Kessler’s photograph, like those artistic renderings of watery deaths, might be considered a subconscious reflection on the transient nature of life, its gentle cascade evoking both the beauty and the melancholy of existence. It is a motif that flows through time, connecting our present to the ancient past.