Studie af en dør. Farveangivelser 1930 - 1936

Here's Niels Larsen Stevns's 'Studie af en dør. Farveangivelser', made with pencil on paper. It’s a light sketch on a page torn from a notebook. I love that you can see the ghost of another drawing underneath. I imagine Stevns, standing in front of this door, quickly trying to capture its essence, a feeling that it inspires. The lines are searching, tentative, and all the notes around it feel urgent, like he's afraid of forgetting a color or a detail. Look at how he’s scribbled the words ‘sort’ and ‘blågrøn’. It makes me wonder what that door felt like to him. Was it a door he passed every day? Was it the door to a home, to a memory, to a feeling? It’s funny how a simple sketch of a door can become a portal. I think a lot about Philip Guston when I see drawings like this—artists using simple, gestural marks to map out an entire world. Stevns’ drawing reminds us that art isn't just about the final product but is also about the process, the thinking, and the feeling that goes into making. It’s about that ongoing conversation artists have with the world and with each other.