To kvinder slås om en mand 1907

Oluf Hartmann made this etching, "Two Women Fighting Over a Man," sometime around the turn of the last century. Look at the surface, how it feels like a dense, scribbled drawing. It’s like Hartmann is thinking through the image, line by line, right in front of us. The beauty of etching is in its raw physicality. You can almost feel the artist digging into that plate. The black ink is built up with such chaotic energy, especially around the figures. See how the women's bodies blend and blur, almost monstrously? And the way one woman’s face emerges from the scrum, looking straight out at us - it's unsettling. This isn't a clean, heroic battle; it's messy and desperate. Hartmann didn’t live long, but he was clearly influenced by artists like Edvard Munch. Both artists were interested in the darker, psychological sides of human experience. It’s a reminder that art isn't always about answers, sometimes it's about exploring the messy, unresolved stuff of life.