Waiting for the Train. Level Crossing by Roskilde Highway

Laurits Andersen Ring, 1914

Download3000 × 2434 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Laurits Andersen Ring (Danish, 1854–1933)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 142.8 × 174.5 cm
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

A diagonal movement from the left-hand foreground leads us into the scene where our gaze meets the waiting cyclist at the edge of the image. A plethora of lines running diagonally and to the right are intersected by the lines formed by barriers and vertical poles. The view of the railway between Baldersbrønde and Hedehusene was begun in the autumn of 1913 and concluded shortly after the New Year.

In January Ring moved from Baldersbrønde to Roskilde, and the painting conveys a certain sense of transit. All lines of communication –railway tracks, roads, and telegraph poles – lead out into the world, away from the man whose posture and slightly morose, anxious gaze shows that he has already been waiting long. Modern life is no longer something that simply passes by; it is part of the human condition.