Den gode hyrde 1921

Niels Larsen Stevns made this watercolor, "Den gode hyrde," or "The Good Shepherd," at an unknown date. The open brushwork and earthy palette suggest a real interest in artmaking as a process, one of searching for forms. See how the colors and textures come together to shape our emotional experience. The paint is thin and transparent, and the drawing is loose and gestural. It’s possible to see where the artist has allowed the colors to bleed into one another, creating soft edges. The sheep, in particular, are barely there at all, just outlines that coalesce into a form. There's a push and pull between control and chance, the planned and unplanned. In a way, Stevns's work echoes that of artists like Emil Nolde, who saw art as a way to express inner feelings and spiritual experiences through color and form. Like Stevns, Nolde embraced ambiguity.