In autumn 2013, artist Jacob Rantzau (b. 1973) was granted a special residency in Krøyer’s studio in the gardens of Skagens Museum. This extraordinary permission was granted as he worked on two larger paintings entitled Together we get somewhere. The two pieces were inspired by the Swedish Skagen painter Oscar Björck’s painting Launching the boat. Skagen from 1884, which is in the collection of the Art Museums of Skagen and hangs in Skagens Museum.
2 June 2017 – 29 December 2017 | Skagens Museum
During the residency in Krøyer’s studio, Rantzau had the opportunity to study Björck’s painting while he was working on his own two paintings. More than 130 years separate Björck’s and Rantzau’s works, and beyond the temporal difference, there are significant differences in the subject matter of the two works. The purposeful collaboration between the four fishermen who are launching the boat in Björck’s painting is in Rantzau’s painting transformed into a hopeless Sisyphean task – the boat will not move. In one painting, Rantzau focuses on the boat; in the other, he focuses on the sea. He thus separates the elements that are united in Björck’s painting.
Even though Rantzau’s paintings are inspired by Launching the boat. Skagen, the works have not been presented together before now. Besides the paintings, 60 sketches for Rantzau’s two painting are on display in the exhibition.
