Holger Drachmann

Multi-talented Holger Drachmann (1846–1908) was an eminent painter, poet, writer and art critic. Most Danes know him for the lyrics to “Midsommervisen” (The Midsummer Song), which he originally wrote for the play “Der var engang” (Once Upon a Time) in 1885, and which is still sung around the bonfires all over the country on Midsummer’s Eve. Drachmann first visited Skagen in 1872, discovering a sanctuary here, where, together with other bohemians, he found artistic inspiration in nature and the local people.

The Skagen Painter and the Roaring Sea
In 1866, Holger Drachmann was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, where he trained as a marine painter. As a child, he had spent many hours at Toldboden (the customs house) in the harbour near his home in inner Copenhagen. The sea became a focal point in his paintings and literary works – both the calm and the turbulent sea, the shore, the ships and the people on them. Drachmann’s restless nature made him a well-travelled Skagen painter, taking him to New York and Halifax and from woman to woman. He had many muses.

Morning mood at the North Beach
There are a great many works from his time in Skagen, where Drachmann really settled down in the latter years of his life together with his wife Soffi. His main works include “The Roaring Sea. Skagen’s Gren”, “Breakers. Skagen” and “Morning Mood at the North Beach. November”. Drachmann was something of a celebrity and a controversial personality in Danish cultural life, and his free-spirited lifestyle was somewhat frowned upon. The artist’s home, Villa Pax, in Skagen became a meeting place for the intellectuals of his day.