"Absalon i Kong Valdemars Råd" 1929

Niels Larsen Stevns made this watercolour, "Absalon i Kong Valdemars Råd", and well, you can really see the decisions he was making as he went. I can imagine him, brush in hand, thinking about the sky and the way the light hits that lone tree. It’s all in shades of grey, but within that, you see how much he coaxes from the brush, how he gets the surface to do different things. Look how the watery strokes make those ominous clouds, but then scratchy, almost scribbled marks describe the grass. I wonder if he was thinking of other artists grappling with light and shadow when he made this. It feels like an echo of the past, but with its own kind of quiet, urgent voice. To me, it speaks of the ongoing conversations artists have across time.