Skitser af siddende figurer 1864 - 1941

Niels Larsen Stevns made these quick sketches of seated figures with pencil on paper. Look at the sparse marks – the confidence of those lines. They are so direct, searching, and immediate. I imagine Stevns with his sketchbook, quickly trying to capture what’s in front of him. You get a real sense of the artist's looking. And, I mean, this guy could *draw*. But it isn’t just about skill, right? It’s also about the artist’s ability to observe. Like he's thinking through the pencil, working out the structure of what he sees. These sketches remind me that painting, like drawing, is a conversation across time, a dialogue with other artists. We’re all looking, all trying to figure out how to make sense of the world and each other. There are lots of ways of seeing, of thinking, of feeling. Painting, like these sketches, allows for ambiguity, uncertainty, and multiple meanings.