Soldaten besøger sin gamle mor 1933

Christian Kongstad Petersen made this pen drawing of a soldier visiting his old mother sometime around the turn of the century. Look how the lines seem to emerge like a memory, hesitant and searching, capturing not just the scene but its emotional tone. I can imagine Petersen working quickly, trying to capture the fleeting moment, the slight bow of the soldier's head, the mother’s sturdy frame. There’s such tenderness in the way he depicts their interaction, or lack thereof. She looms over him, and he shrinks into himself. What are they thinking? The simplicity of the drawing, with its muted tones and raw lines, brings to mind other artists of the time, like Käthe Kollwitz, who were similarly interested in the everyday struggles and intimacies of human life. It’s like Petersen is whispering a quiet story, inviting us to fill in the blanks with our own experiences and feelings. And isn’t that what art is all about, anyway? A conversation across time, a shared moment of humanity.