Rejsedagbog. Brügge 1846

Curator: Welcome. We are looking at "Rejsedagbog. Brügge," or "Travel Journal. Bruges," from 1846, created by Johan Thomas Lundbye using ink on paper. Editor: My initial thought? Intimate. The close crop, the handwritten script—it feels like stumbling upon a secret whispered across time. Curator: Indeed. Lundbye, a key figure in Danish Romanticism, used sketchbooks like this one to record his impressions while traveling, capturing the essence of places like Bruges. It's less about grand vistas and more about personal encounters. Editor: And that informs everything. It’s not just the aesthetic beauty of Bruges he's chasing, but the very act of experiencing and recording—the human connection to place. We’re seeing through his eyes, and that makes it a political act, too. To claim a space, to define it through one’s own lens… Curator: Precisely. Though small, it allows Lundbye to assert his individual perspective amidst the rising tide of industrialization and societal change. Note how the drawing has elements of what you see in plein air sketches, combined with personal reflections. Editor: And, looking at the density of the handwriting, it tells me this wasn’t just a visual experience for Lundbye, but a mental, reflective one, too. He’s processing the world through observation and thought, intertwining the objective and subjective. In some ways, it blurs the lines of privilege that can easily affect those who create art. Who decides what makes a good place for everyone to live? Curator: It's like glimpsing into his very consciousness, watching as his thoughts take shape on the page, merging words with ink to paint an experience rather than a picturesque view. It’s art about living. Editor: Definitely, Lundbye is using a sketchbook in the grand tradition of a private experience becoming art, as if letting his innermost ideas roam freely over these fragile sheets of paper—a truly lasting gift of fleeting beauty.