The Dream

Night has fallen in a street of towering houses. A tiger bursts out of an open window. The crooked, block-like buildings in greyish-blue and brown pro vide a marked contrast to the taut feline body ram paging across the canvas. The differences between the cold city and the raging, wild animal are clearly defined. The work draws to great effect on romantic notions about the tiger's feral nature and secretive nocturnal life. Either it is simply an image of an inexplicable dream. Or, more profoundly, it is the dream itself of leaping beyond the bounds of civilisation. Jais Nielsen was an early Danish modernist. By abandoning the faithful imitation of nature he wished to portray the experience of modern life. Emphasis on form, colour, and composition as story making tools was favoured by the experimental arts of the era. When animals appeared they were often used as simple, but effective archetypes.