Portrait of Ane Hedvig Brøndum
Anna Ancher painted her mother countless times, and the closeness of their relationship was documented in several letters. Mrs. Brøndum’s slightly tired expression and the rough hands folded in her lap testify to an industrious life as the manageress of Brøndum’s Hotel. She only retired at the age of 70 and spent a lot of time afterwards in the blue room at the hotel writing letters and reading the bible. Her mother and sisters, Agnes, Marie and Hulda, were evangelical Christians, a religious conviction that Anna and her two brothers Degn and Johan did not share. They cultivated instead the community of the many cultural leftists and atheist artists. The portraits of her mother range from soulful depictions, which try to capture her mother’s pious nature, to more painterly works, where the focus is more on the formal aspects of colour, shape and composition.
