JONNY ANDVIK`S PERSONAL BLOG

SKAGEN

- romance, drama, history and pictorial imagination.

Once every now and then my wife and I travel to Skagen in Denmark. The city has its own magical power - certainly measurable for anyone with an interest in beautiful places, but possibly extra palpable for us who work in the visual arts.

Skagen are known for its artist colony of the very unusual kind. In Skagen's heyday it was a rather creative crucible for painters, poets, writers, composers, singers and actors.

The Skagen Painters were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the area of Skagen from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. The group included Swedish painters Oscar Björck and Johan Krouthén, Norwegian painters Christian Krogh and Eilif Peterssen, Danish painters Karl Madsen, Laurits Tuxen, Marie Krøyer, Carl Locher, Viggo Johansen, Thorvald Niss, Holger Drachmann and most notably, Anna and Michael Ancher and Peder Severin Krøyer. The gatherings in Skagen were not restricted to paint. Danish writers Georg Brandes and Henrik Pontoppidan and Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén were also members of the group.

If you take your time and read about the lives of these people, then one understands more what impact this group of people had on each other. There was a climate of creative activity of unprecedented nature. The inner circle developed a visual memory Skagen since then has been gratifying. Artists' homes, Skagen Museum, Brøndums Hotel and the character of the village makes the historic atmosphere we like when going there.

Despite the seemingly romantic atmosphere that prevailed during the artists' colony it was not always harmonious. In the painting Midsummer's Eve Bonfire on Skagen's Beach by P.S. Krøyer, 1906 things are starting to unravel. We can see groupings of seemingly happy people around the glowing fire in the blue evening - they are all members of the inner circle and can easily be recognized. The painter note the incident on canvas with his brush and palette - he included Maria (Krøyer's wife) slightly flirtatious with Hugo Alfvén in the middle of the painting. As we know Maria divorced Krøyer in 1905 and married Hugo in 1912. That was after P. S. Krøyers death.

There are a number of masterpieces to see at Skagen Museum, by many of the painters working in the golden age of Skagen.

The pictorial magic of the Skagen painters:

My family: Leopold, Fabian August and Siri Andvik.

The House of Anna and Michael Ancher.

Brøndum Hotel.

Lunch at Brøndum.

The former Brøndum's dining room today at Skagen Museum.

Wall panels with paintings by many of the colonypainters.

Artists' Luncheon at Skagen, P.S. Krøyer, 1883

Works by P. S. Krøyer. Maria and his selfportrait.

P. S. Krøyer selfportrait.

Carl Locher.

Midsummer's Eve Bonfire on Skagen's Beach, P.S. Krøyer, 1906. 257 x 149,5 cm.
From left to right are: Walter Schwartz (seated), Vibeke Krøyer, engineer Valdemar Triepcke (Marie Krøyer brother), Mayor Otto Schwartz, author Alba Schwartz, Michael Ancher, Degn Brøndum, Anna Ancher, Henny Brodersen, postmaster BA Schroeder, Mrs. Schroeder , Holger Drachmann and Soffi Drachmann, the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén, Marie Krøyer, Mrs Jürgensen, treasurer JF Brodersen, rescuing President PK Nielsen (controlling stake), Laurits Tuxen and Fred Tuxen. Each artist or agent of the bourgeoisie may be designated by name, while the fishermen's wives and children remain anonymous. Source: Skagen Museum.