Pesta I Trappen 1900

Theodor Severin Kittelsen created this haunting drawing, "Pesta I Trappen," using pencil and ink to capture the personification of the plague, or ‘Black Death’, lurking in the stairwell. Kittelsen lived during a time of immense social change in Norway, marked by industrialization and urbanization, yet he turned to folklore and nature to express a collective anxiety. The image confronts us with an intimate, yet terrifying encounter with the plague, a hooded figure with a skull-like face peering out from the shadows. It’s difficult to ignore the palpable sense of dread. This work speaks to the historical trauma of pandemics, a theme deeply embedded in cultural memory. Kittelsen’s rendering of the plague serves as a stark reminder of the ever-present specter of disease, tapping into primal fears of contagion, death, and the vulnerability of the human condition.