Portret van Pierre Jules César Janssen before 1902

This portrait of Pierre Jules César Janssen was made by Frédéric Boissonnas sometime between 1858 and 1946, and it's incredible how much depth and character he coaxes out of a grayscale palette. Look at the way Janssen is captured, seated and engrossed in a book. There’s a soft, almost dreamlike quality to the image, a gentle blurring that feels very modern to me. Boissonnas has a delicate touch. There’s a real understanding of light and shadow, which gives the picture a certain warmth, and the way it captures the essence of its subject. It reminds me a little of the painter Gerhard Richter, in the way he uses blur to hint at memory and transience. Like Richter, Boissonnas is interested in the way images can be both present and absent, real and imagined, at the same time. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about fixed meanings, but about opening up possibilities.