Niels Klims nedfart. I 1786 - 1788

Editor: Right now, we’re looking at J.F. Clemens' "Niels Klims nedfart. I", created between 1786 and 1788. It's an etching, a print from the SMK—the National Gallery of Denmark. I find the figure caught in this ellipse strangely… comical, yet vulnerable. All that wild hair! What jumps out at you? Curator: Oh, the *Nedfart*! It’s a piece I often revisit, like rereading a favorite fairytale. I am intrigued by how Clemens used line to evoke a sense of…not just descent, but freefall, wouldn’t you agree? It has that strange pull of Romanticism trying to balance darkness and light, gravity and ethereal floating. Editor: Definitely! It's as if he’s plummeting through a dreamscape, all elongated limbs and exaggerated expression. Where do you think this dramatic quality comes from? Curator: Perhaps it is from the story of Niels Klim, whose adventures Clemens is illustrating, a satire full of bizarre societies and upside-down worlds. That context lets us imagine, that maybe, just maybe, Clemens, is winking at us here. Think about the visual language... the rope, the staff. Are they props or lifelines? The stark contrasts only deepen the enigma. What do *you* think they represent? Editor: Hmmm, maybe the rope is the tenuous link to his former life, the staff, a symbol of his past authority now useless in this new world? That contrast definitely feeds the Romantic yearning for something beyond. It’s clever! Curator: It is isn't it! I am always floored at how simple etched lines could deliver us this timeless tension. We've spun around in circles around this one for years! Editor: I’ll never look at another etching the same way again! Thanks for unraveling that for me.