Skitser af dyreskelet 1864 - 1941

This sketch of an animal skeleton was made with pencil by Niels Larsen Stevns. I see these faint lines on a page, probably from a sketchbook, maybe something he had laying around in his studio. There's something quite beautiful in the casualness of it all; that it’s sort of just an exercise to get something down on paper. I wonder what Stevns was thinking as he drew this, trying to get the hang of it. He probably wanted to understand how these bones fit together. It reminds me that painting and drawing is a language all its own, a way of thinking, a way of seeing and understanding. And look at how the bones are captured with such simple gestures. Each line seems to carry so much information. I am reminded how drawing is a conversation with the subject and oneself. It’s about how we think and express ourselves, not just about what we see.