The Shadow is not just Niels Hansen Jacobsen’s principal Symbolist work; it is also an important piece within the European art of the time.In a original move, Hansen Jacobsen translates his concept of death into a sneaking, creeping figure so bound with the underworld that it merges with the soil.A consistent dissolution of shapesA horizontal figure whose liquid, contour-less shape marks a complete break with sculptural tradition and its celebration of monumental and clearly delineated shapes. With his consistent dissolution of shapes, Hansen Jacobsen does away with the traditional frameworks for the physical appearance of sculpture.Fascination with deathIndicative of the fascination with death that Hansen Jacobsen shared with so many others of his day, the artist let the sculpture be accompanied by this poem: