Studie af fugl, formentlig efter forlæg. Kors i bladkrans 1932 - 1935

This page of studies featuring a bird and wreath, with graphite on paper, was made by Niels Larsen Stevns. I love that you can see the artist working things out, and this feels really intimate. Look at the heavy lines used to render the cross at the heart of the wreath, and how it contrasts with the more delicate rendering of the leaves that surround it. There’s an area, just off to the left, where the leaf shapes are just outlines, almost like the artist is inviting us to complete them. I’m really reminded of the drawings of Matisse, especially the way the line seems to dance on the page. There’s a lightness here, a sense of playfulness, which invites us to bring our own readings to the work, and maybe that’s the point. Art isn’t about fixed meanings, it’s an open conversation.