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Ernst Altien The Narrator.
My name is Sven Froekjaer-Jensen. I am a Danish painter and the webmaster of this site, but that is not important, because this site is about Ernst Altien, and my person is not going to blurr this story. But I can tell you, when Ernst came to Denmark during WW2, we shared the same family, and he became very close to me. We have kept in touch ever since although there might be years between our meetings now. He painted me just before the fire of 83, and luckily enough he had donated the painting to me, before the flames ravaged his works. The painting is shown above. The holes are from his old air pistol. When I asked him, why my eyes were fogged, he at first menacingly cited the famous piece from A whiter Shade of Pale: And though my eyes were open, they might just as well have been closed. Then I think, he felt a bit sorry for me, because he said: Just now, I can see your eyes are closed, but I surely expect them to open fully later. I might be a bit superflous to say, that we both have seen me as the more foolish person. While he roamed the geografical and spiritual landmap, I ended up as a teacher on a highschool. He often teased me about that and remaked a bit scornfully: You measure your life out with teaspons. He used my face again in 2011 in one of his paintings. This time I wasn´t blindfolded by fate, but I am not quite sure, my eyes are open. Ernst didn`t say anything, when he showed me the painting, but I suppose, we both shared the same thoughts - about the eyes and the 28 years lying between the two paintings. Some days later we were sitting on the lawn looking at the small red houses made of wood, that are so common in the part of Sweden, where his atelier is located. Suddenly he took a small stone from the ground and threw it towards the lake not so far away. He said, - The painting with your face I showed you yesterday, reminds me of the hero leaving his tent so many years ago in quite another story. It made me very happy, because I understood, that he welcomed me leaving the job at the highschool and working fulltime as a painter. But I am not Achilleus, will never to be, created as an attendant lord I am content with my destiny hoping the seagirls might sing to me - before I drown. If
you find flaws or other weaknesses in this homepage, it is all my fault,
because I am not used to the construction of homepages and just want to tell
the story about Ernst. So please forgive me for not being able to
present the most modern design on this site.
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