Studier til "Unge kong Valdemars død på Refsnæs" samt "Spaadommen om Bengerdssønnerne" 1911

Agnes Slott-Møller made these studies for "Unge kong Valdemars død på Refsnæs" samt "Spaadommen om Bengerdssønnerne" with a pencil, and what grabs me is how the medium itself seems to echo the tentative, searching nature of the creative process. There's a beautiful rawness here, a sense of discovery in each line. It's like watching the artist think, feeling her way through the composition. Look at the way she's built up the figures and forms with these delicate, almost hesitant strokes. You can almost feel the pressure of the pencil on the paper, the artist's hand moving, correcting, refining. There's a vulnerability to it that I find really compelling. And that hatching, that density of marks in certain areas, it's not just about shading or modeling form. It's about creating atmosphere, mood, a sense of depth. It's like she's conjuring these scenes from history, pulling them into being with the sheer force of her mark-making. It reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker’s drawings, that same honesty and directness. Art isn't about answers; it's about questions, about the ongoing dialogue between the artist and the world.