Blomstrende aloe 1840

Curator: Here we have Johan Thomas Lundbye’s “Blomstrende aloe” made around 1840. It's currently held at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. I think it's quite charming. Editor: You're right, there is a kind of antiquated gentleness about it, especially with that cream-toned paper. Though the Aloe is so carefully drawn, almost scientifically rendered, it gives it an odd detached stillness. Curator: The technique, I think, plays a role. It's coloured pencil and drawing. One gets the impression of looking into Lundbye’s private sketchbook. There is this immediacy to the watercolor bleeds...a life captured directly from observation. Editor: Yes, and those hatching and cross-hatching marks articulate planes, a definite realism, sure, but that color choice... a cool, spectral palette of muted blues and faded oranges…a subdued intensity. Curator: Absolutely! You get that tension between a seemingly objective recording of botanical fact, and something far more subjectively felt, something melancholy perhaps. As though he were finding solace in the details of nature itself. Editor: And what’s compelling to me is how this method emphasizes botanical features. In many ways, nature embodies ideal, self-regulating forms which he clearly admires in how meticulously he is capturing all the shapes, tones, textures and gradations. Curator: That's an excellent point! There’s a beauty that surfaces through the attempt at strict replication. That’s the magic isn’t it? And for me the rough edges hint to a longing that moves me deeply. Editor: The rendering really asks the viewer to meet it where it is, almost incomplete, the way memory itself might be... lovely to dwell upon such quiet reflections. Curator: Thank you for providing further context, really a special work indeed. Editor: It was my pleasure to offer perspective. It's a beautiful meditation on process and how our perceptions alter the works we create.