Udkast til maleriet "Hæcuba" 1916

This is a sketch for a painting called Hecuba, made by J.A. Jerichau II. Look at the bold strokes of charcoal, scratching and smudging across the paper. You can imagine Jerichau hunched over, lost in thought as he builds up this image, line by line, shadow by shadow. It’s all tentative, searching, open to change. I love the energy in these marks, the way they suggest movement and emotion without spelling everything out. Who are these figures? What’s happening between them? There’s a raw, vulnerable quality to this work that feels really intimate, like we’re witnessing a private moment of creation. It’s about suggestion, not description, inviting us to bring our own associations and feelings to the table. And isn’t that what art should do, spark a conversation between the artist and the viewer?