The Ugly Duckling by Teddy Hansen

Mixed media on canvas. 
2024 

This painting is part of FATHERLAND, an exhibition by Teddy Hansen.

Maybe Danish people are happy because they give everyone equal opportunity?

In Hans Christian Anderson’s tale, The Ugly Duckling, a duck is born different from its siblings and has a complicated life before being accepted into a family of swans after discovering that he is, in fact, a swan himself.

The duckling was born in the garden of a house with a moat, shown on the swan’s back. The nest lies in a thick forest of burdock plants, part of the sunflower family. Surrounding the swan are burrs and sunflowers, the so-called duck’s acceptance into his true family.

In part of the story, the ugly duckling is saved from a frozen lake by a farmer smashing the ice with his clogs, so the swan wears clogs in the painting and hits the ice below. At one point in the story, a cat, with whom the ugly duckling shares a home, is shown creating sparks.