Rejsedagbog 1845

Curator: Welcome. Here we have “Rejsedagbog” – or “Travel Journal” – by Johan Thomas Lundbye, created around 1845. It’s an ink drawing on paper. Editor: It looks like a page torn straight from a real diary. The texture of the aged paper, the handwritten script… it feels very intimate, almost like glimpsing someone's private thoughts. Curator: It truly is. Lundbye kept detailed journals during his travels, filling them with sketches and notes about art he encountered. This page offers a fascinating peek into his artistic mind and the context that influenced his works. Editor: Focusing on its materiality, look at the deep, dark ink against the cream of the paper. You can almost feel the scratch of the pen. That high contrast surely speaks to something; I suppose a journey’s reflection? Curator: Indeed! He's grappling with artistic inspiration from masters, but doing so in a distinctly personal way, filtered through his own experiences. Note, for example, his brief description of a painting of Christ and a sinner after Titian; but quickly turning to comment on other buildings' architectures, among other topics. This all illuminates his own Romantic sensibility, influenced by what he consumed during his travels. Editor: And all created through this relatively simple method of production – paper, ink, and Lundbye's own hand. I mean it creates something profound; in many ways democratizing the idea of artistic capture to simple tools. You could almost see this page as the predecessor to instant-camera artforms and other capturing technologies to-come. Curator: I think you're quite correct! The diary page also gives insights to symbolisms and his choice to depict images which have strong and rich backgrounds which we read now through art and the cultural influence it left in the 19th century and thereafter. Editor: Yes, it is interesting how we might consume material culture but choose to create something far outside the realm from which it originates! All that is really required for insight is time. Curator: Precisely. The journal becomes a tangible link between Lundbye's experiences, his artistic inspirations, and, finally, ourselves today. Editor: Material witness of travel and reflection - very potent stuff to consume.