Maskerade 1839 - 1902

Curator: So, here we have "Maskerade," a work made between 1839 and 1902 by Vilhelm Kyhn. It is housed here at the SMK, and it's an etching. What are your first impressions? Editor: Chaotic elegance! All those tiny figures tumbling across the scene... it feels like a memory struggling to come into focus. Are they dancing, fighting, both? The sheer density of it makes my head spin, in a good way. Curator: Indeed. It embodies aspects of Romanticism, this fascination with grand narratives, yet executed here in miniature. The title is centered inside the etching. I am interested in what story it evokes for you, as well as its position within the socio-political discourse of Kyhn’s Denmark. Editor: Discourse! Exactly! Because beneath that delicate filigree, the "maskerade" implies a tearing down of social structures, everyone hiding—and showing—at once. This feels utterly relevant today! Curator: Maskerade, yes, suggesting artifice and revelry, which in the 19th century would challenge the strictures of Danish society, especially when figuration like this would place humans on the foreground rather than a monarch or deity. Editor: You’ve got these peeking faces up top, like theatre boxes, overseeing all the playful anarchy below. What I am also noticing: despite the chaos, there’s an anchor—an emblem of the Naval academy. So, society versus academy? So rebellious, haha. Curator: You've got a fine sense for that period, how a subtle piece of figuration with what may seem like humorous chaos is making a large and subtle critique, perhaps on institutional pride and challenges of a Danish identity. I love how you tied it all together, and how it speaks to now. Editor: I always appreciate his use of figures here, in its historical setting but more importantly how we interpret this into a broader setting, maybe of my setting or yours, which speaks to how much social contexts shape are experience. Curator: Yes, but how art always pushes beyond what surrounds it. The tension here will never rest. Thanks for that lively breakdown. Editor: And thank you for steering this art towards discourse!