P.S. Kroyer, Hipp, hipp, hurra! Kunstnerfest på Skagen, 1888. The colony of painters who worked in Skagen, Denmark, have gathered in a garden for a celebration. From left to right: Martha Johansen, painter Viggo Johansen, Norwegian painter Christian Krohg, P.S. Krøyer, Degn Brøndum (Anna Ancher's brother), Michael Ancher, Swedish painter Oscar Björck, Danish painter Thorvald Niss, teacher Helene Christensen, Danish painter Anna Ancher and Helga Ancher.

Anna Ancher, Sonnenschein in der blauen Stube (Helga Ancher im Zimmer der Großmutter), 1891.

P.S. Krøyer, Døtrene Benzon, 1897, Trapholt (kunstmuseum), Denmark, 2004.

Anna Ancher, Die Mutter der Künstlerin (Anna Hedwig Brondum), 1913.

Ancher, Anna: Nähendes Fischermädchen, 1890, 59 × 48 cm, Öl auf Leinwand.

Ancher, Anna, Alter Mann, ein Stöckchen schnitzend, 1880, 39 × 29.4 cm, Öl auf Holz, Skagens Museum.

Michael Ancher, Portrait of Adrian Stokes, (unfinished), 1888.

P.S. Krøyer, Interiør med Marie Krøyer, 1889, Den Hirschsprungske Samling, København. 2004.

ARKEN
Skovvej 100
+45 43 54 02 22
Ishøj
The Skagen Painters — In a New Light
January 26-June 1, 2008

The Skagen painters yearned to portray their own time and the reality surrounding them. The well-known paintings are perceived by many as authentic testimonies of the life and beauty of bygone days. But what is truth and what is myth? ARKEN’s exhibition goes behind the myths and reveals how the Skagen painters stage themselves and their surroundings: In self-portraits with champagne and elegant attire they increase their social status as free, partying bohemians. Whereas the fishermen are presented as their opposites: Brave, strong heroes of the everyday — original people in harmony with nature, far from the modern metropolis. This is the first time that an exhibition underscores the Skagen painters as attestants in this manner.

In a New Light presents 136 works by the famed artists, including seven newly restored festive cartoons by P.S. Krøyer which have never before been on display. Several of the works are privately held, many abroad, and thus rarely available to the public. Others are found in museums outside of Denmark. One of those is Krøyer’s famous Hip, Hip, Hurra! Artists’ Party (1888). The painting, voted top favourite in an art canon in 2005 by the readers of Berlingske Tidende, usually hangs in the Göteborg Museum of Art. Now for a while it is coming home to Denmark.

The Skagen Painters were a community of Danish and Nordic artists who lived, gathered or worked in Skagen, Denmark, especially during the final decades of the 1800s. The community included Anna Ancher, Michael Peter Ancher, Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén, and Peder Severin Krøyer.

Anna Kirstine Brøndum Ancher (August 18, 1859-April 15, 1935), was the only one of the Skagen Painters actually born in Skagen, Denmark.

Anna Ancher was born and grew up in the northernmost area of Jutland, called Skagen (the Skaw). Her talent became obvious at an early age and she grew acquainted with pictorial art via the many artists who settled to paint in Skagen.

Anna Ancher studied drawing for 3 years at the Vilhelm Kyhn College of Painting in Copenhagen. However, Anna Ancher developed her own style and was a pioneer in observing the interplay of different colours in natural light.

She also studied drawing in Paris at the atelier of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes along with Marie Triepcke, who would marry Peder Severin Krøyer, another Skagen painter. In 1880 she married fellow painter Michael Ancher, whom she met in Skagen. They had one daughter, Helga Ancher.

Despite pressure from society that married women should devote themselves to household duties, she continued painting after marriage.

Anna Ancher is considered to be one of the great Danish pictorial artists by virtue of her abilities as a character painter and colourist. Anna Ancher's art found its expression in Nordic art's modern breakthrough towards a more truthful depiction of reality, e.g. in Blue Ane (1882) and The Girl in the Kitchen (1883-1886).

Michael Peter Ancher (June 9, 1849-September 19, 1927), born on the island of Bornholm, was a Danish painter. In 1874 he joined the growing society of artists in Skagen, the Skagen Painters, and in 1880 he married fellow painter and Skagen native Anna Brøndum and settled permanently in the town.

Ancher is famous for his paintings of the local fishermen, both portraits and full-figure paintings. His paintings are classics and he is probably one of Denmark's most popular artists. He got his artistic breakthrough in 1879 with the painting Vil han klare pynten? (Will he round the point?).

His works are true-to-life depictions of reality and at the same time monumental figure compositions such as Will he Round the Point? (1880). Michael Ancher's life's work is founded on the heroic series The Lifeboat is Carried Through The Dunes (1883), The Crew Are Saved (1894) and The Drowned Man (1896).

Ancher was influenced by his traditional training at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in the 1870s which imposed strict rules for composition, and he found it difficult to adjust to Scandinavian painting's modern breakthrough, the Skagen school. His marriage to Anna Ancher did, however, introduce him to the naturalistic concept of undecorated reproduction of reality and its colours. By combining the pictorial composition of his youth with the teachings of naturalism Michael Ancher created what has been called modern monumental figurative art such as A Baptism (1883-1887).

Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén (June 11, 1867-May 25, 1940), commonly known as Marie Krøyer, was born Maria Martha Mathilde Triepcke in Frederiksberg, Denmark to Wilhelm August Eduard Max and Minna Augusta Kindler Triepcke, who had immigrated to Denmark from Germany the previous year. Max Triepke worked as technical director for the J. H. Rubens Loomery.

Maria showed a great interest in art, and wanted to pursue training as a painter. It was very difficult in those days for women to come into art training, but she was talented, willful, independently minded and had the support of her parents. With those traits, and both her social and artistic connections, she was able to come in the private studios of Carl Thomsen and Kristian Zahrtmann for study in Copenhagen. She was helped along the way by Bertha Wegmann, a leading portrait artist of the day, for whom she modelled at 16 years of age, and Andreas Peter Weis, an employee of the Danish Ministry of Culture. In Paris she studied side by side with Anna Ancher at Pierre Puvis de Chavannes atelier. Anna Ancher, a fellow Dane and resident of Skagen, would be a lifelong friend. She studied also at the ateliers of Gustave Courtois and Alfred Philippe Roll. She debuted at Charlottenborg in 1888, and helped found Den frie Udstilling (The Free Exhibition) in 1891.

Maria also became good friends with painters Harald Slott-Møller, and Agnes Rambusch (Agnes Slott-Møller), his future wife. Agnes would continue a lifetime of support and encouragement for Maria's artistic pursuits. Other friends with whom she maintained exhaustive correspondence include Georg Brandes, critic and scholar, whom she admired, and Sophus Schandorf, poet, who together with his wife treated Marie as their daughter throughout the years.

Shortly after coming to Paris alone in December 1888, a daring adventure for a respectable young woman of those times, Maria ran into Krøyer at a café frequented by Nordic artists. Her beauty suddenly overwhelmed Krøyer, even though he had known her for a number of years. She sat as model for his painting "A Duet" (1887), studied at a studio which he oversaw, visited his studio and had met him socially on various occasions at the Hirschsprung home. After a whirlwind romance the couple married on July 23, 1889 at the Triepke's home in Augsburg, Germany (The Triepkes had been forced to move back to Germany in 1888 on account of the father's loss of employment).

The transformation of the simple, young woman Maria into the elegant, sophisticated and often scandalous Marie, wife of one of Denmark's leading cultural figures had begun. The newlyweds traveled extensively in Germany, Italy, France and Denmark before settling in Skagen in 1891. They divided their time between homes in Skagen and Copenhagen, and continued to travel extensively throughout their marriage. Paris was a regular destination as Krøyer exhibited at the annual Salons. Although Marie's production of paintings was limited after marrying Krøyer, paintings and watercolors of hers can be seen at the Skagens Museum. Marie is also remembered for her portrayals in the many paintings in which Krøyer featured her.

In addition to painting, and later as a replacement for it, she found creative outlet in designing the refined interiors of the several homes she and Krøyer created. She was inspired by the then fashionable Arts and Crafts movement. Her furniture designs would be used by Ulrik Plesner, a leading architect of the time, and original pieces are exhibited at the National Museum. Many of her friends in the rich, influential and fashionable circles would request her advice on the interior design of their homes.

Marie and Krøyer had one child, Vibeke, who was born January, 1895. At the turn of the century Krøyer's health began deteriorating drastically, and he was frequently hospitalized for lengthy periods. His mental instability proved too much for their marriage, and Marie during a tour to Taormina, Sicily in 1902 met Hugo Alfvén, the Swedish composer, the man who would become her future husband. They had a passionate affair. Although Hugo frequently spent time in Skagen along with Marie, Krøyer was reluctant to divorce her. He finally succumbed when Marie became pregnant with Hugo's child, and their divorce was finalized in 1905.

Marie and Hugo lived together several years before marrying, along with their daughter, Margita, at their home Alfvénsgaard in Tällberg Sweden, which she designed completely: the building, interior, furnishings and interior decoration. They married in 1912. Marie designed also the interior for their subsequent home Linneanum at Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden, where Hugo was director of music. She produced watercolors and drawings during her second marriage, as well as interior decorations. Marie and Hugo divorced in 1936.

Marie died in Stockholm, Sweden on May 25, 1940.

Peder Severin Krøyer (July 23, 1851-November 21, 1909), known as P.S. Krøyer, was born in Stavanger, Norway to Ellen Cecilie Gjesdal. He is one of the best known and beloved, and undeniably the most colorful of the Skagen Painters, especially during the final decades of the 1800s. Krøyer was the unofficial ringleader of the group.

His mother having been judged unfit, he was given to be cared for by Gjesdal's sister and the sister's husband. Along with the foster parents, he moved to Copenhagen soon afterwards. He began his art education at nine years of age under private tutelage, and was enrolled in Copenhagen's Technical Institute the following year.

In 1870 at the age of 19 he completed his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi), where he studied with Frederik Vermehren. In 1873 he was awarded the gold medal and a scholarship.

His official debut as a painter was in 1871 at Charlottenborg with a portrait of a friend, painter Frans Schwartz. He exhibited regularly at Charlottenborg throughout his lifetime.

In 1874 Heinrich Hirschsprung bought his first painting from Krøyer, establishing a long-standing patronage. Hirschsprung's collection of art forms the basis of the Hirschsprung Museum in Copenhagen.

Between 1877-1881, Krøyer travelled extensively in Europe, meeting artists, studying art, and developing his skills and outlook. He stayed in Paris and studied under Léon Bonnat, and undoubtedly came under the influence of contemporary impressionists — Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edouard Manet.

He continued travelling extensively throughout his life, constantly drawing inspiration from foreign artists and cultures. Hirschsprung provided financial support during the early travels, and Krøyer continued exhibiting in Denmark throughout this period.

In 1882 returning to Denmark he spent June-October at Skagen, then a remote fishing village at the northern tip of Denmark, painting themes from the local life, as well as depictions of the other artistic and influential people who lived in and visited Skagen during those times. He would continue to be associated with Skagen, and the developing art and literary scene at Skagen over many years. Others who would be associated with the community of artists in Skagen were writers Holger Drachmann, Georg Brandes, and Henrik Pontoppidan, artists Michael Ancher and Anna Ancher.

He divided his time between rented houses in Skagen during the summer, a winter apartment in Copenhagen where he worked on his large commissioned portraits, and travels outside of the country.

On a trip to Paris in 1888 he ran into Marie Martha Mathilde Triepcke, whom he had known in Copenhagen. They fell in love and, after a whirlwind romance, married on July 23, 1889 at her parents' home in Germany. Marie Krøyer, who was also a painter, became associated with the Skagen community, and was often represented in his paintings after their marriage. They separated in 1905.

Krøyer died in 1909 at 58 years of age after several years of declining health from advanced syphilis. He had been in and out of hospitals, having suffered from bouts of hereditary disposition til mental instability.

His eyesight failed him gradually over the last ten years of his life until he was totally blind. Ever the optimist, he painted almost to the end of his life in spite of all these health obstacles. He painted some of his last masterpieces while half blind. He would joke that the eyesight in the one working eye became better with the loss of the other eye.

Krøyer's best known and most well loved work is entitled Summer Evening on Skagen's Southern Beach with Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer (Sommeraften ved Skagen Sønderstrand med Anna Ancher og Marie Krøyer), 1893. He painted many beach scenes featuring both the recreation life on the beach (bathers, strollers), as well as local fishermen.

A second work that is also well loved is entitled Saint John's Eve Bonfire on Skagen's Beach (Sankthansbål på Skagen strand), 1903. This large-scale work features a great crowd of the artistic and influential Skagen community gathered around a large bonfire on the beach on Saint John's Eve (Midsummer Eve).

Both of these works are in the permanent collection of the Skagens Museum, a museum dedicated to that community of artists who worked there and gathered around Krøyer, the great organizer and partyman.

P.S. Krøyer, Sommeraften ved Skagens strand. Kunstneren og hans hustru (Summer Evening on Skagen's Beach. The Artist and His Wife), 1899, Den Hirschsprungske Samling, København. 2004.