Udkast til bibelsk komposition, Jesus vidner om Helligåndens komme 1864 - 1941

Niels Larsen Stevns made this sketch in pencil, probably in a small notebook like this one, sometime around January 7th, 1937. Looking at it, you get a real sense of his process, right? It's not about a finished product, but more about the thinking, the feeling, and the searching that goes into making art. He's not trying to hide anything, you can see the starts, stops, and corrections. What strikes me most is how the figures are built up with these loose, looping lines. They're almost like scribbles, but they come together to suggest form and movement. There's an energy in the way he's layering these lines, almost like he's trying to capture the feeling of the Holy Spirit descending, more than trying to picture the event. This reminds me of some of Philip Guston's later drawings – that same sense of raw, unfiltered mark-making. Art isn't about having all the answers, it's about embracing the questions.