The Painter Sigurd Swane 1908 - 1912

Harald Giersing made this painting of Sigurd Swane with oil on canvas. It's more like a record of the doing, the making, than a traditional portrait. The surface is built up with these loose marks, like Giersing is feeling his way around the form. Look how the strokes around Swane's head and jacket are dabbed and swirled, almost like he's trying to capture not just what he sees, but how he sees it. There's this vulnerability to it, like he's willing to show you his working. It reminds me of some of those early Fauvist paintings, where the artists were so unafraid to let the brushstrokes hang out. That willingness to let the process be visible is so important, because it invites us in. We get to witness the artist thinking, questioning, and ultimately creating. Much like Giorgio Morandi's still lifes, Giersing takes an everyday subject and transforms it through his sensitivity to the material.