Kristi opstandelse 1933 - 1934

This is a sketch by Niels Larsen Stevns, a flurry of ideas in ink. The page is dominated by gestural marks that evoke the resurrection of Christ, the whole emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I can imagine Stevns in his studio, hunched over this small notebook, his pen dancing across the page. What was he thinking as he made this drawing? Maybe he was wrestling with the very idea of resurrection, trying to capture its power and mystery. The lines are thin and wiry, but they're full of energy. The figure of Christ seems to burst forth from the page, surrounded by a halo of scribbled lines. These marks communicate so much feeling, intention, and meaning. Stevns is having a conversation with the great masters who came before him, like El Greco or Grünewald, while also blazing his own path. Painting is an ongoing exchange of ideas across time. It embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed readings. It is a form of embodied expression that invites us to think and feel in new ways.