Udkast til "Kristus velsigner de små børn" 1937 - 1938

Niels Larsen Stevns made this preliminary sketch for "Christ Blessing the Children" with ink on paper. You can see how the artist has used simple, expressive lines to capture the figures and their interaction, building a composition of sparse marks, erasures, and adjustments. I imagine Stevns walking around his studio, thinking, observing, and visualizing how to depict a biblical story. The cross-hatching gives volume to the figures. Look at how each stroke is intentionally placed to define form and suggest movement. The artist captures essential gestures and emotions using minimal detail. It’s interesting to see how artists like Stevns and others, such as Paula Modersohn-Becker, approached religious themes, imbuing them with emotional and psychological depth. We artists are always in conversation with the past, reinterpreting stories and styles through our own experiences and visions. There are no endings, only new beginnings.