Plan for ophængning af gobelinner med folkevisemotiver i Dronningens sal på Christiansborg 1920 - 1926

This drawing was made by Joakim Skovgaard, as a plan for tapestries in the Queen’s Hall at Christiansborg. Just look at that almost empty cream page, and then that elegant, light touch of ink. It’s kind of like looking at a map or a musical score, full of signs and symbols, except that it maps not a territory but a series of stories. You can trace the path of the tapestries around the room, each one labeled with a fragment of a folk tale. It’s like the bare bones of an idea, a sketch of a story waiting to be filled in. It reminds us that art is a process of building up, of moving from a simple idea to a complex reality. Skovgaard’s drawing shares something of the spirit of Hilma af Klint’s diagrammatic works, though made to a very different end. They both encourage a kind of seeing in which the world is not just a place but a pattern, full of secret connections.