Udkast til "Den gode Hyrde" 1937 - 1938

This sketch for "The Good Shepherd" was created by Niels Larsen Stevns at an unknown date. It's just pencil on paper but somehow the marks feel more like thoughts, a series of quick notations that barely begin to conjure a figure. Looking at these lines, I can almost feel the artist’s hand moving swiftly across the page, trying to capture the essence of the composition. There’s a real sense of searching and trying things out here. What was Niels thinking as he made it? How would he depict the relationship between the shepherd and his flock? It makes me think about other artists like Paula Modersohn-Becker who were also exploring similar themes of rural life and human connection around the same time. Artists are constantly responding to one another, whether they know it or not. It's like one big conversation that stretches across time and space! This is an early attempt to depict the subject. It is unsure, unresolved. It's one step on the way to completing a final painting.