Heste på marken 1918

Editor: So this is Peter Hansen's "Heste på marken," or "Horses in the Field," from 1918. It’s a watercolor that captures a seemingly tranquil scene. There's a pervasive stillness about it, but also something about the way the horses are drawn--almost spectral, transparent--that makes me uneasy. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Well, the horse, since prehistoric times, has stood for power, virility, and even the sun chariot in many cultures. But here, drained of strong colour, these are working animals, literally "in the field." Hansen likely intends something about the tension between the idealized symbol of the horse and the reality of rural labor. Notice their placement in the landscape; how do the shapes of the horses echo the rolling hills in the background, for example? Editor: I hadn't thought of that parallel between the horses and the hills, but it’s clear now that you mention it! Does that landscape play a part, then, in that symbolism? Curator: Absolutely. The landscape itself isn't heroic; it is quiet, bleached, a land that needs tilling. These aren't untamed steeds of myth; these horses represent harnessed energy, sustenance, connection to land. The fading watercolour amplifies this, representing a past, not present, glory, perhaps a memory fading from collective imagination. What sort of cultural shifts were occurring then? Editor: It was painted at the tail end of the First World War… So maybe there’s also an element of post-war exhaustion. I guess I see it differently now-- the light palette feels more poignant, weighted down, not washed out. Curator: Precisely. Those colors, almost not there, become heavy with meaning. The artist captured a shift in the cultural memory with something beyond the simple picture of horses. Editor: I’ll never look at a landscape quite the same way again!