Plantestudier 1906 - 1910

Niels Larsen Stevns made this plant study in ink, and you can see he was really thinking through the process. The paper is aged, but the plant is so fresh. I love how each leaf is made up of these tiny lines, giving the plant a kind of furry texture. It's like Stevns is feeling his way around the shape, finding the form bit by bit. It reminds me of making a painting, where each mark leads to the next. There's this one leaf right in the middle, see how it's slightly darker? The ink pools there, making it stand out. It’s like he paused there, lingered a bit longer. It makes me wonder what he was thinking about in that moment, what caught his eye. It all feels so immediate, like a snapshot of a thought. You know, this reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin’s drawings, the way she used simple lines to create a sense of calm and openness. But here, Stevns is capturing something more wild and untamed. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, an exchange of ideas across time.