Her var saa dejligt... 1928

Editor: Here we have Fritz Syberg’s 1928 ink drawing, “Her var saa dejligt…”. It strikes me as very immediate; the lines are so loose and expressive, creating a sense of almost overwhelming nature. What’s your take on this landscape drawing? Curator: The beauty of a scene isn't always as it appears. Syberg lived through significant shifts in Danish society. Industrialization was changing the rural landscapes that artists like him celebrated. Consider the title. It translates to 'It was so lovely here…', hinting at a lost idyllic past. Editor: So you’re saying that it’s not just a simple landscape? That it could also be about social commentary on industrialization and maybe nostalgia for the rural way of life? Curator: Exactly. Syberg was from a generation of artists who witnessed the impact of modernization. The starkness of the ink, the bare trees, the water rendered with quick, almost agitated lines. It reads to me as an elegy for the disappearing countryside. The density of lines, do you see how it contrasts with the bare page around it? Editor: I do. It’s almost as if the encroaching reality, or industrial society is hemming in on the quiet landscape of the past, that's about to consume it. Curator: Yes! Or perhaps we see his personal connection to the place, contrasted against what the society wants to turn it into. Can art like this push the viewer into activism, by raising consciousness to social topics? Editor: That's interesting...It does reframe how I see the piece; the art as an instrument of awareness. The beauty and tragedy co-exist. Curator: Right? It forces us to confront uncomfortable truths about progress and loss. Maybe it even makes you consider what is gained or lost when the world we know changes around us. Editor: It gives so much food for thought! Thank you! I'll definitely be looking at art in new and expanded ways from now on.