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Plaster, 1901. Size 104 x 59 x 50 cm. Inv. no. 143. Gift of O. Vang Lauridsen, Vejen.
Exhibitions One-man show at the
Free Exhibition Building, 1901.
Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale Niels Hansen Jacobsen depicted the little mermaid from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. The story deals with unrequited love and a child of nature's longing for an immortal soul. The little mermaid undergoes the most awful sufferings in order to get rid of her fish tail so that she can live in the world of man and win the prince's love. Only if he marries her in a church will she be given an immortal soul. As we know, the prince marries another and on his wedding day, the little mermaid must throw herself into the sea, in the belief that her heart will burst and her body become foam on the sea. The fairy tale does, however, have a happy ending. The daughters of the air take her along with them and promise her an immortal soul after three centuries of good deeds.
The peaceful and idyllic sea bed Niels Hansen Jacobsen's figure shows the little mermaid while she still has her fish tail, and everything is peaceful and idyllic in that fantastic underwater realm. She is sitting on a bed of corals petting a little fish as the current captures her hair. In three-dimensional form he depicts a part of the text, the description of the sea-king's palace where: The great amber windows were opened, and then the fishes swam in to them, just as the swallows fly in to us when we open our windows, but the fishes swam straight up to the princesses, ate out of their hands, and let themselves be stroked.
The mermaid's symbolism Mermaids and other curious creatures from the billowing waters were frequently depicted by artists at the turn of the century. Water was a good theme: the wavy forms suited the Art Nouveau style, and people were aware of water's psychological undertones. The sea is the origin of all life and symbolizes the unknown, danger, and temptation. The siren or mermaid is an erotic creature whose captivating song entices the seaman into his watery grave. Niels Hansen Jacobsen's mermaid, however, is a very innocent incarnation. Hansen Jacobsen created several mermaids in his time. See "Mermaids creating a Maelstrom."
A mermaid fountain In 1938, Niels Hansen Jacobsen was asked to make a fountain for the garden of a furniture manufacturer, Oluf Sidelmann Jakobsen, in Aalestrup, northwest of Hobro. The landscape architect Johannes Skovborg was responsible for the landscaping. As he did when he created the troll fountain, Niels Hansen Jacobsen harked back to an older figure, this time "The Little Mermaid." She was cast in bronze and placed in the center of a shallow cruciform pool surrounded by lizards' heads spouting water. This bronze figure was later sold at auction in Copenhagen. Its fate is unknown.
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