Udkast til bibelsk motiv. Forklarelsen på bjerget 1864 - 1941

This page of sketches for a biblical scene was drawn by Niels Larsen Stevns. It is made of graphite on paper and shows some very early ideas about the arrangement of figures. Look at how Stevns uses the graphite. There are lines that form an impression of light and depth, but also areas of frenetic hatching. The surface is alive with marks, each one a record of the artist's thinking. There's no attempt to hide the process. It's all about the energy of creation. The rapid lines and smudges give a sense of movement and transformation, like the figures are emerging from a dream. There’s a raw, unpolished quality that reminds me of some of the early sketchbooks of Paula Modersohn-Becker. You sense her grappling with form and composition in a similar way. Both artists show the beauty of the unresolved, the magic of the first idea. Art's like a conversation across time, an echo of one artist in another.