A group of horses, Saltholmen 1906

Theodor Philipsen conjured this group of horses, at Saltholmen, with oils on canvas, and I imagine he was out there with them, feeling the wind. Look at the cloud formations – the way he’s dabbed and swirled those pinks and blues. You can almost feel the breeze shifting, right? Philipsen's brushstrokes seem quick, capturing a fleeting moment of light and atmosphere, and the horses are rendered with this same immediacy. I wonder if he struggled to capture their movement? There’s one lying down, utterly still; perhaps it was his favorite to paint? He’s obviously thinking about those Impressionists over in France, but he’s doing his own thing – a Danish version of open-air painting. You can see Philipsen's trying to evoke a mood, a sense of place, rather than just a literal depiction of horses in a field. Painters, we’re all in this ongoing conversation, across time. I bet Philipsen would have loved to see what painters are up to today!