Mata katten II (Feed the Cat II)

The personnel and props in Mata katten II (Feed the Cat II) are free-floating, simultaneously isolated and connected to each other. They cast shadows in different directions, and the undefined space they inhabit does not obey the laws of logic.
The etching’s title draws the viewer’s attention to the girl holding a bottle of milk, about to feed a cat. But most of the pictorial elements defy integration into this narrative. Nordström adds pieces of furniture to the composition, which obey neither spatial nor narrative logic. An old-fashioned chest of drawers dominates the center of the image, as if it contained the key to deciphering the surreal narrative. A dapper man on the right-hand edge of the picture appears completely detached from the rest of the image, greeting an unknown figure outside the pictorial frame.