#statens museum for kunst

Thorald Brenstrup (May 25, 1812 - 1883), was a Danish landscape painter who had trained as a porcelain painter while also studying at the Academy in Copenhagen. This was the Golden Age of Danish art, as although influenced by Købke, Eckersbreg and P.C. Skovgaard, Brenstrup became a fine exponent of Danish landscape painting, whether he found his subjects in Italy or at home in the Danish woods.

Above:The Ruins of the Antique Theatre at Tusculum, Italy, 1848 - oil on paper pasted onto canvas (Statens Museum for Kunst)

Henrik Olrik (May 24, 1830 - 1890) was a Danish sculptor, decorator, designer and painter. He trained as a sculptor at the Royal Academy, made figurines, silverware, and even designed the first Danish 10 Kroner bill.

However, it was portraits of members of the Royal House, such as King Christian IX, that buttered his bread. He had excellent technique as witnessed by this genre piece:

Bruden smykkes af sin veninde, 1859 - oil on canvas (SMK)

Frederik Vermehren (May 12, 1823 - 1910) was a Danish painter and professor at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. He was a dominant figure in Danish art in the second half of the 19. century, and a more conservative realist of the National Romantic school than contemporaries such as Zahrtmann and Krøyer. He was also in charge of acquisitions for the National Gallery (SMK) for a decade.

Above:Vinteraften ved Susåen, no date - oil on canvas (SMK)

Jens Vige (May 11, 1864 - 1912) was a Danish social-realist painter. He trained at the Academy and later with P.S. Krøyer. After marrying, he settled at Hammer Bakker in Northern Jutland and developed a preference for open air painting (he only worked summers) in Skagen and other heath and moor landscapes up north…

Above:Kvinder hakker lyng, 1906 - oil on canvas (SMK)

Christine Swane (May 29, 1876 - 1960) was a Danish artist, whose brother was Johannes Larsen and who was married to Sigurd Swane, both prominent members of Fynbomalerne.

However Christine wanted more than becoming just another regional landscape painter, and she developed her own brand of post-Cubist still life painting, almost always held in green, blue and yellow colors.

She chose Grønningen as her artists’ association, and worked across media with ceramics, textiles and paint, creating many decorative works as well as canvas art.

Above:Opstilling med kardemomme, 1948 - oil on canvas (SMK)

Frederik Rohde (May 27, 1816 - 1886) was a Danish landscape painter who trained at the Academy and in addition took private lessons from Christen Købke. Rohde got a travel scholarship and went to Germany, Austria and Switzerland where he may have picked up a preference for winter landscapes, of which he painted very many throughout his career.

Above:Winter Landscape, 1848 - oil on canvas (SMK)

Christen Købke (May 26, 1810 - 1848) was a Danish National-Romantic painter from the Golden Age of Danish art. He trained at the Royal Academy, starting at age 12, studying with Eckersberg and others.

Eventually Købke traveled abroad to Italy, but upon return failed to be accepted as a full-fledged member by the Royal Academy. This is said to have broken his spirit and he died young from pneumonia.

Now he is considered the most talented Danish National Romantic artist, and he did master both portrait painting, landscapes, interiors and genre painting in almost equal measure. I like his landscapes, esp. those showing Copenhagen, the Danish capital as a semi-rural city. This is the view from out his father’s garden gate:

Havelågen ved bagermester Købkes gård på Blegdammen, 1843-4 - oil on paper pasted onto canvas (SMK)

Maja Lisa Engelhardt (b. May 2, 1956) is a Danish artist, known for her work in Danish churches, including one of the very smallest, Lodbjerg Kirke, down the road from where I live.

Engelhardt trained at Det fynske Kunstakademi in the late 1970s and has lived in France since 1981. Her husband, Peter Brandes, bought Asger Jorn’s villa in Colombe, outside Paris, and they live and work there.

Her work is often abstract landscape painting, as in this canvas from SMK:

Vej gennem landskab, 2000 - acrylic on canvas (SMK)

Else Thoresen (May 1, 1906 - 1994) was a Norwegian-American artist, who studied in Oslo at the Academy and in Brussels. While in Norway she met Danish artist Vilhelm Bjerke-Petersen and married him in 1935. As a result she lived and worked in Denmark for a decade, until she had to flee the Nazi occupation in 1944 and go to Sweden. After the war, she returned to the US and remained there.

The Danish National Gallery has one of her symbolic, Surrealist canvases:

Brændende Jord / Terre brûlée, 1946 - oil on panel (SMK)

Georg Seligmann (April 22, 1866 - 1924) was a Danish genre painter who had studied with P.S. Krøyer and Laurits Tuxen, after which he traveled extensively abroad, studying old masters (particularly Frans Hals).

He exhibited at Forårsudstillingen at Charlottenborg and later at Den Frie. He did quite a few architecture paintings and portraits, including a whole show of “Doctor portraits” (apparently he was hospitalized for long periods towards the end of his life).

He is represented at Den Hirschsprungske Samling and Statens Museum for Kunst, from where this canvas comes:

Ukrudt. En kvinde i et landskab, 1888 - oil on canvas (SMK)