The lifetime work of renowned Skagen painter P.S. Krøyer is currently on display in a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition at the Skagen Museum in Skagen, Denmark. The display, ‘Krøyer – in International Light,’ opened on May 4 and will be welcoming visitors until September 2, 2012.

More than 40,000 people have enjoyed the beautiful work of the Norwegian-born painter, who grew up in Copenhagen, Denmark. The collection is a unique blend of paintings kept in both national and international museums and private collections. Unique, because some of the paintings, though painted in the picturesque town of Skagen, have not been in Denmark since completion.

It is the biggest collection of P.S. Krøyer’s work ever to come together in a single exhibition. Krøyer was born in 1851 at a mental hospital in Stavanger, Norway. Shortly after, his mother was deemed unfit to care for him, and he was placed in foster care with his aunt and uncle in Copenhagen. In 1864, he enrolled at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. The young Krøyer was talented and made his debut at the spring exhibition at Charlottenborg in 1871.

He visited Skagen for the first time on June 19, 1882. Since then, he has visited Skagen every year until his death, with the exception of 1889, 1890, and 1901.

Krøyer was the central force behind the artist colony that thrived in Skagen in the 1880s and 1890s. His motives in this period were very focused on his immediate surroundings and especially his wife, who became a favored subject. The work that he and his fellow Skagen painters did in these decades defined the Danish art scene’s introduction to naturalism.

His most celebrated paintings include ‘Summer Day on Skagen’s Southern Beach’ (1884), ‘Summer Evening on the Skagen Southern Beach’ (1893), ‘St John’s Eve Bonfire on Skagen’s Beach’ (1906) and ‘Hip, Hip, Hurrah!’ (1888) which is usually on display at the Gothenburg Museum of Art. The Swedish art collector, Pontus Fürstenberg, bought the painting before it was completed and later donated it to the Gothenburg Museum of Art, which makes ‘Krøyer – in International Light’ the first time the iconic painting is put on display in the setting which inspired it.

In total, 128 of Krøyer’s most celebrated pieces can now be admired at the Skagen Museum. Years of research have gone before this remarkable collection to track down the whereabouts of the paintings. Having been the most prolific of the Skagen painters, P.S. Krøyer was very successful in selling his work abroad. The exhibition is comprised of pieces from about 25 museums, collections, and private owners both in Denmark and the rest of Europe, but also Philadelphia and New York in the U.S.

‘Krøyer – in International Light’ is made in collaboration with The Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen. Tickets are 90DKR. See it before it’s too late.

Image Courtesy of   BoFransson

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