Blomsterbuket med snerle og efeu 1843

Curator: This is "Blomsterbuket med snerle og efeu," or "Flower Bouquet with Morning Glory and Ivy," painted by Hermania Neergaard in 1843. It resides here at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: My initial reaction is a sense of contained drama. The colors, while vibrant, are also muted, almost secretive, as though a story is being whispered within the arrangement. Curator: Precisely! The romantic era was fascinated with nature’s emotional impact. Consider the symbolism; ivy, clinging and resilient, and morning glories, ephemeral, a beautiful articulation of lasting attachment amidst the transient. Editor: I am more arrested by the arrangement itself. Notice how the eye is drawn toward the cascade of lilies and roses at the composition’s center. Their petals suggest volume and tactility, especially when considered in relation to the relative density of the floral forms towards the work’s lower portion. Neergaard directs the eye artfully, but the lighting feels intentionally stifled. Curator: Certainly, that sense of enclosure might point to the constraints placed upon women artists during this period. Confined to genre paintings like still life, which were deemed appropriate. Her mastery is undeniable, though, using watercolor and gouache with incredible precision. Editor: I observe that she avoids stark outlines, relying instead on delicate gradations of tone to suggest depth and separation. This adds a dreamlike quality, removing it from stark representational work to evoke feelings that match the context from which the work emerges. Curator: Absolutely. One wonders if she was attempting to imbue the work with the feelings it portrays, that despite being trapped within certain confines of the era, she had the capacity for beauty, complexity, and deep emotion within the work, and life, around her. Editor: Thinking through the ways that her treatment of lighting softens boundaries of space and massing can tell the astute viewer a great deal. Considering those attributes has led to a deeper awareness of what the artist tried to suggest within her era. Curator: And understanding the art's history helps reveal Neergaard’s intent. A lovely illustration of our fields combining to grant deeper perspective.