Everlasting coup de ❤️ for the photos of Ed van der Elsken, this time, spotted on the walls of the AMC hospital in Amsterdam. Ed van der Elsken was extremely active in the years 50 and 60 and at the top of his art, both in Amsterdam and Paris, but also later on in Japan. I associate his black and white photographs of Paris and Amsterdam with the nostalgia I have for a world that does not exist anymore, for a moment of my life and a period of time that will never be back. A world where life appeared simpler, where happiness was within reach, where artists were gathering to reinvent the world permanently, where a laughter, a glass of wine, an animated discussion with a good friend could make your whole day. Of course, the 50’s and 60’s were also full of pain and drama, wars and misery but what’s left behind now from that era, apart from the History with a big H, is the humanist approach to everyday life.

Tweelingmeisjes op de Nieuwmarkt, 1956 ©Ed van der Elsken
Amsterdam, Nieuwmarket, 1958 ©Ed van der Elsken
Amsterdam, Nieuwmarket, 1958 ©Ed van der Elsken
Herengracht, Amsterdam 1956 ©Ed van der Elsken