Utan pardon 1919

Nils Dardel made this painting, 'Utan pardon', at an unknown date, and I am immediately drawn into its theatrical chaos. It feels like the first act of a play, raw and unfinished. The colour palette is a hallucinatory mix of fleshy pinks, sickly greens, and ominous blues. I can imagine Dardel wrestling with this composition, adding figures, scraping them back, changing his mind, always searching. The layering is very physical and awkward. There's a figure in the centre caught mid-gesture, his hand frozen in space, with his anxious expression. What's he thinking? Is he horrified? Or guilty? I love how Dardel leaves these questions hanging in the air. It makes me think of Ensor or Munch, other painters who weren't afraid to embrace emotional intensity and social satire. Paintings are like conversations, each artist responding to those who came before, arguing, agreeing, pushing the language of paint further. Like any conversation it is never quite resolved. This work feels like an invitation to join in, a chance to find your own meaning in the midst of all the uncertainty.