Fragment af vandret snit, vedrørende audiensgemakket 1743 - 1809

Nicolai Abildgaard made this horizontal section fragment for an audience chamber with pen and ink. Abildgaard was a leading figure in the Danish Golden Age, and his art often reflected the tumultuous political and social landscape of late 18th-century Europe. Abildgaard lived during the Enlightenment, a time of revolutionary ideas about individual rights and democracy. As a professor and director at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Abildgaard was deeply engaged with Neoclassicism. The style drew inspiration from classical antiquity and often served as a vehicle for expressing political ideals. But this drawing subverts the grandeur often associated with audience chambers. The drawing's unfinished state, with its visible grid lines, makes me think about power and authority in a new way. The circles and squares hovering above the structure, suggest a world of ideas and possibilities that are only partially realized. Maybe Abildgaard is asking us to think critically about how spaces of power are constructed, both literally and figuratively.