Gesatteltes reiterloses Pferd auf der Flucht, im Hintergrund ein brennendes Dorf 1915

Reinhard Pfaehler von Othegraven made this drawing of a saddled, riderless horse fleeing a burning village with graphite and colored chalk, likely sometime in the early 20th century. The nervous energy in the drawing comes through the scratchy lines; it’s as if the image is on the verge of dissolving. Look at the way Pfaehler von Othegraven captures the horse's movement, like a blurry photograph of something running too fast. There’s a real tension between the detail in the horse's face and the sketchy background. I am really drawn to the lower-left corner, where there's this jumble of lines that could be a fence or just abstract marks. It’s that ambiguity, the way the drawing flirts with representation and abstraction, that makes it so compelling. This reminds me of Francisco Goya's etchings, particularly "The Disasters of War," where he used a similar rawness to depict the horrors of conflict. Ultimately, this drawing is a powerful reminder that art can capture the chaos and emotion of a moment without needing to spell everything out.