Dance in the moonbeam - Dans i maanglans 1901

Theodor Severin Kittelsen made this drawing of animals dancing in the moonlight with graphite or charcoal. The way the artist coaxes movement from a static medium is fascinating. It’s all in the smudgy marks that give the figures the quality of something dreamed, something just on the verge of disappearing. Look at how the artist defines the bear, the largest figure in the composition. See how he uses dense cross-hatching to render the fur and then carefully blends the graphite to create soft gradations of light and shadow? It gives the bear a weightiness, a real presence, but there’s also a lightness to its stance, a delicate, almost humorous, quality. Kittelsen's work reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker, another artist who found beauty in the simplicity of everyday life. But where Modersohn-Becker often used color to convey emotion, Kittelsen relies on the subtle nuances of light and shadow. It all feels very intuitive, very felt. It's this sense of directness, of unfiltered expression, that makes the work so compelling.