‘Mock away! Mock! The Niblung makes for your toy! 1910

Arthur Rackham conjured this fantastical scene with ink and watercolor, and maybe a touch of magic. Look at those swirling lines, the way he builds up the forms with delicate strokes. You can almost feel him hunched over the paper, his hand moving with the story as it unfolds. I wonder what he was thinking when he made this? Maybe something about desire and longing? The watery blues and greens create this dreamy atmosphere, but it is the earthy browns that pull you in. I'm drawn to the dark-haired figures, they have a strange beauty, don't they? The way their bodies intertwine with the landscape, it's like they're part of the same dream. It reminds me a bit of Odilon Redon. Artists are always in conversation, borrowing and riffing off each other’s ideas. It’s like a big, messy, beautiful family tree. And just like family, we find new meanings in them each time we look.