Tidstavle over H.C. Andersens liv 1866-1844 1930 - 1938

This page was written in 1869 by Niels Larsen Stevns, a handwritten list that charts H.C. Anderson's life between 1866 and 1844. What strikes me first is the handwriting itself, that looping, spidery line of ink on paper. It’s like a drawing, each word a little gesture, a record of the artist’s hand moving across the page. The texture of the paper, aged and stained, is almost as expressive as the writing. You can imagine Stevns sitting with his pen, carefully recording these moments in Anderson’s life. I find myself drawn to the way the ink bleeds slightly into the paper, creating this soft, blurred edge. It’s not precise, but it has a kind of intimacy, like a whispered secret. Looking at the page as a whole, I’m reminded of the notebooks of Cy Twombly, where writing becomes drawing and drawing becomes a form of thinking. There's something about art on paper, like this, that feels so immediate and direct, a conversation between the artist and the world, full of openness and possibility.