Versailles, Le Parc 1906

This is Eugène Atget's "Versailles, Le Parc", a gelatin silver print. It's a humble record of a grandiose fountain, isn't it? What gets me is the tonal range. Atget coaxes so much out of what seems like a limited palette. It’s all soft grays and browns. This limited palette allows the play of light and shadow to really sing. Look how the light glistens on the wet stone of the fountain's base. The water looks so tactile, almost inviting. The surface textures feel almost palpable. There's this tension between the rigid formality of the park layout, and the almost fleshy figures of the sculpture. It reminds me a little of the way Corot could find something very intimate, and human, in a very formal landscape. It’s that quality of attention that makes Atget so enduring, and puts him in the lineage of painters who were equally enthralled by the world around them.