Literature: Bàrdur Jákupsson: “Mikines”, Emil Thomsen Tórshavn, 1990, variation of the work ill. p. 139. Literature: Adalsteinn Ingólfsson: “Mikines”, Nesútgáfan, 2006, variation of the work ill p. 104.

At this winter's auction, we are offering a beautiful work by the Faroese artist Samuel Joensen-Mikines, which in these dark and cold times reminds us of the warmer tones of summer.

Mikines was born Samuel Elias Frederik Joensen on the impassable island of Mykines, surrounded by choppy waters as the Faroese archipelago's westernmost outpost. Throughout his life, he feels a strong connection to the nature and people of his native island, which is clearly reflected in his many landscapes – depicted with both melancholy and ecstasy – the dramatic slaughter of pilot whales and images of the Faroese population especially in moments of grief, but also joy: "Life is beautiful and in its impermanence a mystery. There are painful aspects in all beauty, which is both burdensome, enchanting and frightening”.

”Morgensol” (Morning Sun) is known in several versions, but rarely so powerful and complete. The longing for the life-giving warmth of the sun, the praise of light and the intense symbiotic worship of nature – as an escape from the horrors of World War II, several personal crises and pushing away the hardship of winter.

Mikines considers Edvard Munch one of the greatest “painter bards”, and the work here clearly testifies to this source of inspiration. Both in relation to the quasi-religious anthropomorphism of nature, the winding structure of the forms, but also on the psychological and emotional level, one sees the shared ideas with the great Nordic master. The people depicted can be identified as the Danish painter Karl Mogensen and the artist's sister. Mogensen was an almost unknown artist who was good friends with Mikines. His introverted nature and enormous shyness towards other people, especially of the opposite sex, lies like an undertone in the characters' body language and placement within the frame of the painting. Where the woman in the light dress is exalted and appears as an ethereal being, an allegory of the sun, the seated dark-clad figure is characterized by an inherent downward oriented heaviness, firmly connected to earth and soil.

The work comes from a family with personal connections to both Samuel Joensen-Mikines and Karl Mogensen and has not previously been offered on the market.