Michael Ancher painting Anna Ancher standing in the Doorway

Michael Ancher painting Anna Ancher standing in the Doorway

Peder Severin Krøyer was the Skagen painter, who painted the most pictures of other artists in the process of painting. Here, he depicts Michael Ancher in the process of painting one of his studies for the large painting of Anna Ancher standing in the doorway called Portrait of my wife. The painter Anna Ancher, which was only finished in 1884. In the same year, Krøyer made another work in pastel, where the two artists painted the same model. The Skagen painters did rarely create collaborative artworks, but they occasionally sat together and painted the same motif.

Pastels had existed since the 15th century, but it saw a resurgence among artists at the end of the 19th century. This was due to the fact that impressionists and plein-air painters, who wanted to capture a particular light and colour, could do so quickly with pastels. Krøyer attempted the technique for the first time in the summer of 1883, when he created five pastels.