Interieur van de Cartuja de Granada, Spanje 1906

C. Maufsaise made this photograph of the interior of the Cartuja de Granada in Spain. I love how it captures a space, and a process, in a single go. There is an appealing tension between clarity and ambiguity at play here, which makes it feel contemporary. In the shadows, forms dissolve into abstraction while other aspects of the composition remain sharply defined. The checkerboard floor, for instance, provides a rigorous geometrical anchor. This contrast resonates with the way we experience the world, as an ongoing negotiation between order and chaos. The muted color palette also contributes to the photograph’s emotional depth. The subdued tones evoke a sense of melancholy, maybe, but also of reverence. It reminds me a little of the work of Eugène Atget, who documented the streets of Paris at the turn of the century with similar understated elegance.