Krigen Mellom Froskene Og Musene 07 1885

This black and white drawing by Theodor Kittelsen depicts frogs and a mouse in an anthropomorphic war scene. Kittelsen, a Norwegian artist, made this drawing some time before his death in 1914. The drawing is from a series illustrating "Batrachomyomachia", a parody of the "Iliad" depicting a war between frogs and mice. It’s worth considering how such a subject speaks to the time and place in which it was made. Norway, while part of a union with Sweden, was experiencing a rise in national romanticism. Artists turned to folklore and mythology, and this drawing taps into that. It satirizes grand narratives of heroism and warfare by casting animals in those roles, perhaps commenting on the absurdity of human conflict. The choice of animals native to Norway may also reflect a growing national consciousness. To understand this piece, we might look into Norwegian folklore, and the socio-political context of the time. Art history invites us to consider such historical and cultural factors in interpreting a work.