Tidstavle over H.C. Andersens liv 1843-1828 1930 - 1938

Niels Larsen Stevns made this page of handwritten notes charting the life of Hans Christian Anderson sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. Look at the way the writing almost tumbles down the page. It makes me think about how we piece together a life, not always so linear or neat. The ink is faded and seeped into the page, creating this blurry, almost dreamlike quality. Each date and event is pressed together, as if time itself is folded and compressed. See how some words are carefully formed, while others seem dashed off in haste, reflecting the uneven terrain of memory? My eye snagged on the phrase “ Paradiset last den lysende Capt”. It reminds me a bit of Cy Twombly’s scrawled, poetic notations, a kind of personal shorthand that invites us to fill in the gaps. Art is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing that embraces ambiguity and resists easy answers.