Exhibited: Nationalmuseum Stockholm and The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen, “Impressionismen og Norden. Fransk avantgarde i det sene 1800-tal og kunsten i Norden 1870–1920”, 2002–2003, Cat. No. 17 (Stockholm) and Cat. No. 34 (Copenhagen), ill. p. 183. Ordrupgaard, “Gauguin og hans venner”, 2022, Cat. No. 44, mentioned p. 160 and ill. p. 92.

Literature: “Sjælebilleder. Symbolismen i dansk og europæisk maleri 1870–1910”, The National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen 2000, mentioned and ill. p. 191.

Provenance: The collection of Birte Inge Christensen and John Hunov.

In 1890–91, Clement accompanied his younger artist colleague and friend Mogens Ballin (1871–1914) to France, where Ballin introduced him to Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) and Syntheticism, and its anti-naturalistic ideals, which at the time were unknown in Denmark.

The work here is a fine and rare example of Clement's early interpretation of the Syntheticism of Gauguin and the French Les Nabis. The court interior is made up of clearly demarcated fields of colour, kept in strong colours, which emphasize the surface and the decorative rather than the illusionistic depth of naturalism. The depth of the work is of a symbolic and soulful nature, highlighted by the rhythmic progression of the painting's formal elements.