Exhibited: Gl. Holtegaard, “Portrætter fra et ægteskab. Marie og P. S. Krøyer”, 1997 no. 29, ill. p. 105. Kunstforeningen, “Når kvinder fortæller, kvindelige malere i Norden 1880–1900”, 2002 no. 84.

Illustrated: Lise Svanholm, “Marie Krøyer”, 1987 p. 17. “Agnes og Marie. Breve mellem Agnes Slott-Møller og Marie Krøyer 1885–1937”, ed. Lise Svanholm, Cph. 1991, pp. 80–81.

Provenance: Marie Krøyer. Her daughter Vibeke Krøyer (1895–1985), her descendants until 2004, when it was sold at Bruun Rasmussen auction 729, 2004 no. 1264, ill. p. 185. Acquired here by the present owner.

Marie Krøyer painted this motif twice. The present painting she kept herself, the other one she gave to her friends Anna and Michael Ancher, and it is today at The Art Museums of Skagen (Inv. No. HAF211).

The painting is one of Marie Krøyer’s few large and more elaborate works. The work’s fine colourism and impressionistic lighting suggest that it must have been painted after her stay in Paris in 1889. The motif depicts a woman sitting working at the loom, and it is not surprising that this particular motif meant so much to Marie Krøyer that she repeated it twice and kept one of the works for herself. As a child, she observed her father’s work in designing and drawing textile patterns for the loom at Rubens Klædefabrik, where he was technical director, and Marie Krøyer herself wove and designed patterns for woven textiles to furnish her various homes. Weaving as both a craft and an aesthetic object was thus very close to her heart and a central artistic object of study for her, both as a motif in her painting – as in this work – and as a craft in its own right.

Marie Krøyer’s works are currently on display at the exhibition “Marie Krøyer” at the Art Museums of Skagen until 3 September. The exhibition will continue to the Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen on 22 September 2023 and from there to Prins Eugen's Waldemarsudde in Stockholm on 9 March 2024.