Exhibited: Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling, 1923, No. 4. Exhibited: Oslo, 1946.

As a sister to the painter Johannes Larsen, Christine Swane (b. Larsen) is naturally included in a larger circle of performing artists. She was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1898–1901 and was subsequently taught by Fritz Syberg, J.F. Willumsen and Harald Giersing. Around 1910, she marries the painter Sigurd Swane, but the marriage falls apart in 1920. Unlike many other women in the marriages between artists of the time, Swane continues her career and development as an artist.

In the beginning, her starting point is the naturalism of the Funen Painters, which can be seen in her early flower paintings. Later, she developed her own idiom, where her surface-focused style and discreet use of colours gives her artwork a distinctive and quiet expression, which is described as follows in a review in Politiken, 1919, by K. Pontoppidan: “In front of the individual paintings, one enjoys the sensitive colours and the decorative beauty that the works possess”.

However, the work here is anything but quiet, rather it is strong and powerfully executed in a Matisse-inspired colour scheme of bright red tones set against blue, green, orange and lavender touches.

The past years have seen an increased interest in Christine Swane's artwork, and we can see a healthy demand, when the works are up for auction.