Troll wonders how old he is - Trollet som grunner på hvor gammelt det er 1911

Theodor Severin Kittelsen made this drawing of a troll, with who knows what, maybe graphite or charcoal. Look at the way he's built up tone with these tiny, anxious strokes. It's all about layering, a real process of accretion. You can feel the weight of time, not just in the troll's musings but in the making of the image itself. Notice the little sprigs of plant life sprouting from his head, like he's part of the landscape, or maybe the landscape is part of him. The materiality is everything here. The rough texture, the muted greys, they give a sense of something ancient and unknowable. See how the lines around the troll's hands are so delicate, so full of worry? It brings the whole image together, that feeling of being burdened by existence. This reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also had a knack for capturing the weight of the world in simple forms. Art's just one big conversation, after all. It's never about having all the answers.