Skitse af to børn 1864 - 1941

This is an undated pencil sketch of two children by Niels Larsen Stevns, held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst. Larsen Stevns was working in Denmark during a time of great social change. Industrialization was accelerating, and traditional rural ways of life were being disrupted. Artists began to turn their attention to everyday life and to ordinary people. Here, the artist's interest lies in capturing a fleeting moment of intimacy between siblings. We see the quick and informal nature of the sketch. Larsen Stevens was associated with the Skovgaard Museum, a space dedicated to exhibiting art inspired by the Danish landscape. We can see that Larsen Stevens brings the same eye to the portrayal of people as he did to the natural world. To understand this drawing more fully, we can look into the period in which Larsen Stevens was working and the museums, galleries, and art schools in which he worked.