Den lille hvide kat 1925

Niels Skovgaard made this ink drawing of a group of people at a table sometime around 1925. It's a flurry of short, sharp marks, a storm of hatching and cross-hatching that conjures form from the blank page. I wonder what Skovgaard was thinking as he worked. Was he trying to capture a fleeting moment, a memory of a gathering? The figures seem caught in a web of lines, each stroke building up volume, texture, and a sense of atmosphere. See how the light filters through the windows, how it catches on the folds of clothing? Each mark feels deliberate, considered. It reminds me a little of Daumier, of those quick, incisive drawings that capture the essence of human experience. There's a real conversation happening here, not just between the figures but between Skovgaard and his materials, between the seen and the felt. And now, between you and me, too.