Mon Repos: A Photography Exhibition in Breda by Arthur and Willy Klep

This exhibition showcases the cinematic and intimate family photographs of Arthur and Willy Klep, taken between 1905 and 1915. Visitors can explore their life and the local environment through hundreds of glass negatives, offering a glimpse into a prosperous family's world.

Mon Repos offers an intimate photographic journey into the life of the enterprising Klep family, through the lens of Arthur and Willy Klep. Between 1905 and 1915, the couple created hundreds of glass negatives that capture their immediate surroundings, including the stately Baronielaan, the Mon Repos estate, and the nearby Mastbos. The exhibition highlights their exceptional eye for detail and their skillful staging, resulting in photographs that are strikingly spontaneous and cinematic, even capturing children and animals at precisely the right moments. The exhibition also contextualizes the couple's work within the technological and societal shifts of the early 20th century. The advent of the Kodak handcamera and the development of photography as a hobby made it easier for families like the Kleps, who owned one of the most successful iron foundries in the Netherlands, to afford and engage with the medium. This prosperity allowed them to travel, acquire cameras, and draw inspiration from contemporary art, such as the impressionist works of Monet and Manet. The photographs themselves, taken in their home on the Baronielaan, the Mon Repos estate (meaning 'My Rest'), and the Mastbos, portray a family rich in life, surrounded by friends and loved ones, with a palpable joy radiating from the images even after more than a century.