Farvelagt skitse til "Diogenes" samt to andre skitser 1879 - 1910

Editor: So, this is "Farvelagt skitse til "Diogenes" samt to andre skitser," dating from between 1879 and 1910, by Oluf Hartmann. It's at the Statens Museum for Kunst. It’s a watercolor drawing, really just a few different sketches on one sheet. It strikes me as rather loose and dreamlike… like catching glimpses of a story rather than seeing the story itself. What do you see here? Curator: Ah, yes! I feel as though I’m peering into Hartmann's mind. Look at how fluid the watercolour is, how the figures seem to emerge and dissolve back into the paper itself! The fragment of "Diogenes"— the famous philosopher who lived in a barrel! I find it utterly beguiling. The sketch offers such intimacy with Hartmann’s creative process… it makes me wonder about the ‘finished’ artwork. Can it capture what a raw sketch can? The sheer feeling? What do you think? Editor: I’m not sure the finished piece always captures the immediacy of a sketch, that’s true. It’s interesting to see a peek behind the curtain like this. The colors almost feel… nostalgic? I don’t know why. Curator: Nostalgia... perhaps! Perhaps it's the muted palette, or maybe it's the incomplete narrative, making you long for the rest of the story, which is an old story? Either way, that incomplete piece is intriguing. The way the figures almost float, disconnected from a defined space... it is an early visual formulation of the feeling in-between spaces we inhabit, I suspect. Editor: I hadn't thought about that "in-between spaces" interpretation. The lack of a defined background does create a sense of isolation. I definitely see it differently now! Curator: That's it exactly. Sometimes the most insightful perspectives come from those unfinished corners. And I agree: seeing sketches can definitely transform how one views and interprets the process behind works of art.