Anna Ancher

“Here I am now, up in my lovely Skagen, where summer has finally arrived and showing itself in its full warmth and glory. Yes, it is good to be here now. Freshness, air and also the delightful peace and quiet that I love so much. You are not disturbed by anything, but [you] have such wonderful peace [of soul and mind] to sit and think about how much you can get done and how you should best make use of your time.”

Anna Ancher (1859–1935) was a pioneer in Danish art and is considered to be the most modern of the Skagen painters. Early in her career, she was preoccupied with strong, intense colours, and during exhibition visits in Copenhagen and trips to Paris in 1885 and 1889, she was inspired by the French avant-garde’s experiments with colour and play with light.

Anna Ancher grew up in Skagen and later in life became one of the central figures of the famous artist colony based in the town. As a young woman, she showed an interest in art and received tuition at Vilhelm Kyhn’s painting and drawing school for women from 1875–78. She was also given guidance by the artists who began travelling to Skagen in the 1870s, including Karl Madsen and Michael Ancher. She married the latter in 1880. In 1889, she studied under Puvis de Chavannes in Paris. 

Anna Ancher found her primary motifs in the environment around her – in her home, in the garden or in the town of Skagen and the surrounding countryside – and she also painted portraits of her family and the local Skagen residents as well as religious images. A recurring theme in Anna Ancher’s art is her fascination with light. Ancher was concerned with depicting the flow of sunlight into the room, and she has been praised for her unique ability to capture the materiality of light through vibrating colours and brushstrokes. With her focus on colours, surfaces and light rather than narrative content, her work points in the direction of later abstract art.