Studier af oldkristne motiver, samt notater. Apolonari in Classe 1902 - 1905

This is a study by Niels Larsen Stevns, made with watercolor and pencil. Look at that thin yellow wash, the barest film of color, like a memory of sunlight. You can see the notations scrawled across the surface, a painter’s thoughts captured right there on the page. I imagine Stevns, hunched over this piece, wrestling with those early Christian motifs. What was he thinking as he laid down those flat, almost childlike figures? The simple forms, the muted tones, the layering of colors: it's all so tentative, so open. The drawing feels like he's talking to himself, trying to figure something out. The quick, shorthand gestures communicate a certain urgency, as if he’s racing to capture an idea before it vanishes. And yet, there’s a quietness too, a sense of contemplation. I'm reminded of other artists, like Guston, who embraced simplicity and imperfection as a way of getting closer to the truth. We're all just chasing after something elusive, aren't we?