The Magical Spinel

“The Magical Spinel” is a cartoon about the young art-history student Sigurd who works as a night watchman at The David Collection. One night, as he falls down the main staircase, something strange happens. He discovers that in a mysterious way, he is able to travel back in time to periods and places from which the museum’s works of art derive. This marks the beginning of a journey to find purpose, knowledge, and love. “The idea is to bring to life the works of art’s historical surroundings and at the same time make the adventure real and reality adventurous,” says the author, museum curator Peter Wandel.

 

The exhibition presents a selection of the drawings behind the project in addition to two works of art that play a special role in the story: a small gemstone (a pink spinel) and a calligraphic sculpture in wood (a Sufi sign). The drawings, all by the renowned illustrator, Rasmus Meisler, were initially made only with pen on paper, without the use of a cartoon grid and without colors. Later, each individual picture was placed in its correct location in the story, and colored digitally. A selection of the original drawings – disconnected from the story’s chronology – is found on the walls, while the end result can be experienced in the books displayed on the table in the middle of the exhibition room.

 

As the story in “The Magical Spinel” proceeds, the reader is presented with a number of works of art and historical people that all, in different ways, have something to do with the museum’s collections. For this reason, certain drawings are accompanied by references to factual descriptions at the end of the book. In this way a window is opened to further insight. In short, “The Magical Spinel” is not for everyone, only for the endlessly curious.

 

The exhibition can be seen on the 2nd floor.

 

The cartoon can be bought as a hardback book in a Danish or English version in the museum shop for DKK 250. An exhibition poster costs DKK 40.

 

Read Cobolt’s interview in Danish with the author and the illustrator here.

 

For further information, contact curator Peter Wandel at [email protected], tel. +45 33 73 49 49.