Udkast til "Kristus velsigner de små børn" 1937 - 1938

Niels Larsen Stevns made this sketch, Udkast til "Kristus velsigner de små børn", with pencil on paper. You can see how he's feeling out the forms. The lines are tentative, searching—the ghost of an arm, the curve of a head. Looking at this, I'm reminded of a quote from Philip Guston: "Working is what is real." This isn't about the grand statement of a finished painting. It's about the intimate process, the artist grappling with the subject, line by line. The texture of the paper shows through, adding another layer of reality. The lines on the right hand side give the impression that this was a page torn from a notebook. Think about Degas and his sketches—studies for larger works, but beautiful in their own right, like a private conversation with the artist. This piece invites us to witness that conversation, to appreciate the beauty of the incomplete, the power of the process.