Studier af ørn 1864 - 1941

This is Niels Larsen Stevns’ ‘Studier af ørn’, a sketch of an eagle, made with pencil on paper. It’s so simple, right? But look closer. It's all about the making. The lines, they're not precious. They're searching, almost like the artist is feeling his way around the form of the bird. See how some lines are darker, more defined, while others are just ghosting there, barely visible? It tells you something about how the artist was thinking, how he was building up the image, layer by layer. I love that you can see the process, the hesitation, and the confidence, all at once. The texture of the paper also plays a role here. It’s like the drawing is breathing, and it reminds me of some of those quick, gestural drawings by Delacroix – those moments of capturing the essence of something, rather than a perfect representation. To me, art is never about perfection; it's about the energy, the exchange. It's about embracing the incomplete.