H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of P. S. Krøyer no. 503. Numbers 502 to 509 in the Catalogue Raisonné are all studies for no. 510: “Badende Drenge” (Boys bathing).Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “P. S. Krøyer 1851–1909”, 1910 no. 219.Literature: Alba Schwartz, “Skagen”, 1912 and 1913 p. 214.Provenance: L. Zeuthen, Lawyer.In the summers 1891–1893 Krøyer rented a former post office and inn in the North Jutland town of Skagen so that he could enjoy the festive gatherings of the artistic colony and also take advantage of the many opportunities for plein-air painting. It was at this point that he began to work systematically with the colour range of blue, which he permitted to dominate in many of his atmospheric pictures of the 1890s. Well-known works from this period with predominating range of blues include “Badende Drenge en Sommeraften ved Skagen Strand” (Boys Bathing on a Summer Evening at Skagen Beach), the large double- portrait “Sommeraften ved Skagen Strand. Kunstneren og hans hustru”, 1899 (The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen) and, not least, “Sommeraften på Skagen Sønderstrand”, 1893, (The Skagen Museum) with the two white-clad artists' wives Marie Krøyer and Anna Ancher.Krøyer's paintings of children bathing can be seen in the context of the widespread interest in Vitalism which developed in the 1890s. Vitalism was a broad European current of ideas which cultivated the beautiful, the vigorous, the nude body, health, strength, the masculine hero, the emancipated woman, light and Nature in all its glory. Besides capturing the interest of painters such as Krøyer and Willumsen,Vitalism was also taken up and interpreted by a number of the period's sculptors, architects, composers and writers. The painting being auctioned here is a brilliant example of Vitalism and Krøyer's use of the blue colour scale.