Rids af krat og træer 1825 - 1826

Curator: So delicate! This pencil drawing from 1825, “Rids af krat og træer”, which translates to "Ride through bushes and trees,” is a work by Martinus Rørbye from our collection at the SMK. The paper looks incredibly fragile. Editor: Yes, there's a certain whisper to it, a kind of ephemeral quality. It feels like catching a fleeting thought more than a fully realised landscape. And there's an open book feeling too – not just because of how it looks but the narrative feel like we are meant to turn the page to know more. Curator: Rørbye was quite taken with "plein-air" drawing. You can practically feel him grappling with nature's transience, struggling to capture the moment before it vanishes completely. Notice the bare strokes – the open book feeling makes perfect sense to me in the context of landscape. Editor: Absolutely. The light and shadow playing through the leaves are almost glyphs, symbols that carry weight. Like how the dark stroke defining that lower branch transforms from mere limb to portal, promising passage into deeper, wilder spaces of the mind. Are the drawings about the bushes and trees, or the passing through them? Curator: Hmmm... passage of mind… that might be pushing it slightly, no? Isn't it, perhaps, an invitation to witness a Romantic soul entwined with the world? Look at the composition; see how those wispy trees practically hug the edges, enclosing the viewer… almost cradling you into meditative stillness? Editor: Cradling, perhaps, but those same wisps have an alien air – long antennae seeking… perhaps even listening. Consider the ancient concept of trees as oracles. Every rustle of leaf, an unheard answer to unseen question – the symbols of the oracles have these roots and branches reaching to gods… We all have something to say through it, or towards it. Curator: Ah, well, either way, this modest pencil drawing serves as a portal to reflect. So I would encourage you to stand and gaze as long as you need! It surely delivers a new insight for each passerby… Editor: Precisely, its unassuming simplicity actually resonates deepest if you bring to it your openness, and embrace the dialogue Rørbye ignited over two centuries ago! It’s fascinating!