P.S. Krøyer painting on Sønderstrand
Michael Ancher painted this picture two years before Krøyer’s death in 1909, and in contrast to Krøyer’s last self portrait, which hangs in the West Room, there is no evidence of Krøyer’s physical deterioration in this image. The artist sits proudly on Sønderstrand and gazes across the coastline, engaged in fixing his motif onto the canvas. Krøyer’s self-assured appearance as a dandy dressed in a light suit, is repeated in many portraits of the artist and helps to highlight him as a true virtuoso. During the 19th century, plein-air painting became very commonplace and many artists finished several of their images on location to capture the spontaneous moment and get closer to nature’s colours and light. There are many paintings of the Skagen artists painting each other on locations like the beach, and a series of photographs document their process of working.
