Landskabsstudie. Farveangivelser 1930 - 1936

Curator: Today, we're looking at Niels Larsen Stevns' "Landskabsstudie. Farveangivelser," or "Landscape study. Color indications," created sometime between 1930 and 1936. It's a watercolor and drawing piece currently residing at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: It’s incredibly whimsical! A lovely mess, actually. I get the sense that I am looking at a sky just before dawn, that mix of peace and unrealized possibilities… Did the artist have a particular style? I feel transported. Curator: Stevns had a foot in several worlds; while clearly rooted in landscape painting, he also moved toward abstraction. Consider the social context—between the wars, anxieties about identity, land, and national belonging were pervasive, informing artists across Europe. This piece speaks to that tension: groundedness but also a yearning for something beyond the representational. Editor: I see the longing you mention. But look closely... there's script layered in. Did the artist use this to help define and understand his emotional relationship to the landscape itself? Perhaps the inscription captures a feeling of home or the opposite. Curator: Fascinating observation. The markings act like a personal code. These weren’t public declarations but tools of definition—very intimate and reflective of how land, especially as depicted in art, often becomes synonymous with personal and cultural identity. We are, in essence, viewing Stevns grapple with defining not just a landscape, but also his place within it, his identity reflected and refracted through color and form. Editor: I get the urge to wander right in; I long to walk between the watercolor planes! How extraordinary is it that colors and forms from nearly a century ago still possess this profound capability of allowing me, you, and all of our patrons to dream... I find myself thankful that it exists! Curator: Absolutely. That tension—between grounded reality and boundless potential—that’s what resonates across generations, inviting each of us to explore our own landscapes, both internal and external.