Grevens Fejde 1916 - 1920

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to Peter Hansen’s "Grevens Fejde", an oil on canvas work from between 1916 and 1920. Editor: Chaos. Pure chaos is what comes to mind first. The colors are muted, earthy. Are those… people fighting? It feels dense, claustrophobic. Curator: It depicts exactly that: "The Count's Feud"—a civil war in Denmark from the 1530s. Hansen captures a peasant army, pitchforks in hand, during a moment of intense conflict. Editor: The realism… It's raw, isn't it? Look at the tangle of bodies and limbs. No romanticized heroics here. Just men scrambling in the mud. I find the horizon-line so close and dense it is like the mob is attacking the viewer in full close proximity. It feels like something visceral about human struggle is conveyed. Curator: Exactly. The composition is really interesting; the landscape beyond provides context, but the artist focuses us intently on the individuals—their expressions, the immediate struggle. It feels as though you're standing shoulder to shoulder with them, facing the threat with little choice. Editor: Almost like we're not supposed to feel like spectators, but feel part of something bigger unfolding in its time? The lack of distinct heroic figure certainly reinforces the thought. Do you think Hansen was aiming to do more than depict the historical event itself, I mean? Curator: Definitely. By emphasizing the disarray and almost dehumanizing sense of struggle of battle, I think Hansen communicates the visceral, gritty, decidedly non-glamorous side of armed conflict in those moments when human lives collide violently. It certainly seems an anti-war, perhaps even post-traumatic portrayal of collective suffering and confusion. Editor: Makes you think about the individuals involved. Those caught up in a moment of enormous historical relevance whose emotions and experiences become erased in its shadow... I can now see that Hansen seems to highlight exactly the loss that each moment of extreme battle entails, it can be seen in each struggling man who we can only barely distinguish from the whole. It does not only create an incredibly deep portrayal, but it certainly delivers an incredibly profound message too. Curator: It really stays with you, doesn’t it? Something about that unflinching rawness… Editor: Precisely; I appreciate what such form does.