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David Karlsen

@vonkarlsen.bsky.social

2K followers 1.5K following 7K posts

Prose writer and poet. BA (Hons) Humanities, Literature. Non-binary. Interests: The Arts, Natural History, Geology. Vegan. Francophile. X 🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 🇪🇺 ©️David Karlsen [All poetry, prose and photographs] Paintings, etc. belong to the artist I repost. NO CHAT!

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · Jan 3

Warning: I absolutely hate being tagged! And, I always report and block people send me lewd or offensive material! Everyone I've reported so far have had their accounts suspended. I always protect myself and people who trust and follow me. Unless I know you don't send me DMs as you'd be blocked. X

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 4h

X 🐾🐾💜

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 4h

You know I really do think trump copied that awful comic look from mussolini, (never give capital letters to dictators or idiots)! I think the Nobel Committee should give a prize for idiocy, trump would have a roomful of them! 🤣

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 4h

If baby trump had been given the Nobel Peace Prize it would have been a big joke! And, the Nobel Peace Prize would have devalued itself completely; but the Nobel Committee never award the Prize to dictators or idiots!

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 4h

X 🐾🐈‍⬛💜

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 4h

Oh yes, they love being nasty to women! I hope these masked bastards get what's coming to them: a good term in jail with women jailers in really large numbers!

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 7h

👋😊☕🍀

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 8h

Guten Morgen Szuszanna und der Welt auch. X 💫🕊️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇨🇭🙋☕

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 8h

The grey dawn
comes into being
from a wraith
of disguised images;
all those ghosts
of morbid thought
lose terrorising power;
such is fear, a strangling
nonexistent cloak
built in the lonely hours
when we can't turn
for reassurance.
How can this liar
sleep
in truth's broad daylight?
#poetry

Reposted by David Karlsen

Michael @mdstamper.bsky.social · 1d

“Sophie Crouzet” by Louis Hersent (French) – Oil on canvas / c. 1801 – The Cleveland Museum of Art (Ohio) #WomenInArt #PortraitofaWoman #Neoclassical #Enlightenment #BlueskyArt #neoclassicism #FrenchArt #FrenchArtist #oilpainting #art #artText #artwork #ClevelandMuseumofArt #LouisHersent #Hersent

In this luminous Neoclassical portrait by French artist Louis Hersent, a young woman with warm pale skin and softly waved brown hair is shown seated at a desk against a white wall backdrop. She turns to meet our gaze with poise and calm intelligence. She wears a high-waisted white muslin gown with short sleeves and a Grecian drape, the delicate fabric gathered beneath the bust. Her bare arms and neckline glow in the diffused light, revealing a natural warmth rather than idealized pallor. The subtle transparency of her gown, rendered in fine brushwork, contrasts with the subdued shadow behind her. The artist’s attention to her thoughtful expression and gentle posture, holding a paper, conveys dignity, intellect, and a sense of self-possession. Hersent’s smooth handling of tone and texture exemplifies early 19th-century French precision, with human presence expressed through restraint and grace.

Painted around 1801, “Sophie Crouzet” reflects the rise of virtue and simplicity as moral ideals after the French Revolution. The sitter’s Roman-inspired dress (a “robe à la grecque”) symbolized democratic purity, aligning women with civic virtue. The muslin’s gauzy lightness echoed Enlightenment notions of transparency and natural reason, while the white hue suggested moral integrity. Hersent, a pupil of Jacques-Louis David, merged neoclassical rigor with intimate human warmth, distancing his work from David’s stern heroics.

The sitter, Sophie Crouzet, remains a partially mysterious figure. She likely belonged to a bourgeois family sympathetic to revolutionary ideals, perhaps from southern France, where the Crouzet name appears among reformers. Despite her limited biography, the painting’s style and symbolism align her with a generation of educated women who adopted Greco-Roman dress to express civic virtue and intellectual equality. It was possibly commissioned to celebrate Sophie’s youth or marriage, marking her as both fashionable and virtuous in Napoleonic society.

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 10h

You are a dear person Regina, a lover of peace and harmony. I feel honoured to be your friend on BlueSky! I don't know what date in October your 80th birthday is but I wish you a beautiful day for it. X 💗 🎂🕊️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🙋

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 10h

I'm glad you like it dear Regina, thank you.X 💫📚🕊️✌️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🙋

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 10h

I was so glad to hear of this! One good and very worthy Nobel Peace Prize Laureate congratulating another! X ♥️🕊️✌️

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 11h

X 📚💙

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 21h

Thank you too Rien. 💫🕊️🙋🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 21h

It's sad to see; we get them in the garden too, but all animals have to eat I suppose. 💫

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 21h

Have a lovely weekend Rien. 🕊️😊💫🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🙋

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 22h

we left the Pembroke river
standing in the clouds
I had never been to visit
the castle there you see
where Henry VII was born
apparently
what would a Belgian know
of British kings
Kazu knew far less
I kissed her mouth
before we left
told her that's part
of Pembroke
castle's history now
#poetry

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

Good morning Dane! 🌻

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

X 🐾💙

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

I love her viola violently
I enjoy the practiced pieces
music that emerges from its rude and lusty throat while
a disturbing sound
of Baroque flute
pale as perfect harmony allows me smell its neck and through these notes I trace a pale blue vein emerging from
another room entirely
#poetry

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David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

X🕊️✌️

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

Merci 👍👋😊

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, I love different word games, whatever they are. When I listen to music, certain phrases of it bring words to mind.💫🌙⭐👍

David Karlsen @vonkarlsen.bsky.social · 1d

I've not heard of that one Jan. Is it a local name from your area? I like it, sounds very homely. 📒⭐🌙🌟📒💛😀

Reposted by David Karlsen

ann @annpersand.bsky.social · 1d

Jan Toorop, Prayer (colored and black crayon, pencil, and white chalk on paper, 1924)

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