What is the difference between a painting and a photograph?

My uncle, NISHIMURA Toshiro, was quite argumentative, and he once argued with me, when I was a high school student. I was a bit of a cocky kid at the time, and while I respected my uncle's technique of fine art, I felt that he was just painting landscapes and portraits only as simply as they are, so I challenged my uncle with the question: "How are your paintings different from photographs?” I do not remember the contents of the discussion at all, but I do remember that my uncle was polite to me at that time. Through the editing of the "Painter’s Essays" section of this website, I have been able to carefully read my uncle's thoughts on painting, including this theme. I feel nostalgic and even wish that I could try to refute his thoughts and ask him again to debate with me. Now, this theme reminds me of a visit I made several years ago to the Mugonkan,** an art museum that is famous for exhibiting paintings by students who died in the war. I was painfully aware of the feelings that had been put into the paintings, and I was astonished when I read the explanation of one of the paintings that I was casually looking at.

【I downloaded this photo from the Internet by searching for "Mugonkan no E (Collection of the Silence Museum)” 】

The family was enjoying tea time in an elegant manner. I thought it was a very pretentious family, but according to the family's remark: "Such a thing has never happened in our house,” I noticed this painting was not a "sketch," but rather "the painter's wish.” Moreover, the painter, who was about to go to the war, did not join the family’s tea time, but simply watched from the back. How is this possible in a painting? I must confess that I felt really devastated by this painting. (29 March 2023)*

【NOTES】

*The Japanese original was posted on 9 October 2018. **Mugonkan (Silence Museum) is an art museum located in Nagano prefecture, Japan. Its collection is mainly oil paintings painted by art students who were drafted and died in the battles of the World War II. This name implies that dead students cannot talk any more, but their works talk a lot to the viewers.