Bland tomtar och troll 1913

John Bauer conjured this evocative scene of "Bland tomtar och troll" with watercolour and graphite. You can almost feel the delicate washes of colour and see the build-up of the graphite lines. I imagine Bauer, hunched over his paper, carefully layering each stroke to create this otherworldly atmosphere. The solitary figure by the water's edge, shrouded in melancholic reflection, feels so familiar. Haven't we all been there? The way the colours are muted and the lines so detailed, it feels like Bauer is inviting us into a secret, personal world, maybe one of his own longings. He was an illustrator. But this feels more like a peek into his own psyche, maybe in dialogue with other artists like, say, Edvard Munch? I feel a kind of kinship between artists across time, all wrestling with these big feelings. Painting like this becomes a kind of shared language, and the conversation continues.