Tuxen on Skagen beach

The painting up for auction, “Sommerdag på Skagen Strand med Figurer” (Summer day on Skagen beach with figures) is a pinnacle among Tuxen’s Skaw paintings – very much because of its large format, but also because the motif itself is noteworthy, as it depicts the artist’s two daughters, Yvonne and Nina, presumed to be in the company of the daughter of the artist’s colleague P.S. Krøyer’s daughter Vibeke. The inspiration from Krøyer’s type of motif is clear too – especially the open-air painting and the depiction of light, but also the inclusion of close relatives and capturing the moment with the three girls enjoying a lovely summer’s day on the beach. The actual motif is documented in a photograph by the pharmacist Vagn Klæbel, who immortalised Tuxen with his easel and the girls on Skagen Beach in 1906 – the year before this painting was completed.

A painter to royalty and a Skaw painter

Laurits Tuxen (1853–1927) is known above all as a painter to royalty, but was also a figure of note in Skagen, being among the first and the last of the artists there. He first came to Skagen in 1870, and helped sow the seeds of the Golden Age of this artists’ colony over the decades that followed. However, Tuxen was not actually in Skagen when his art was at its zenith. At that time, he was making a living as a portrait painter to the princes and royalty of Europe, including Great Britain’s Queen Victoria, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and the Danish royal family, which had married into several of the European monarchies.

The well-travelled artist returned to Skagen in 1901, however, and produced a number of outdoor paintings as well as interiors. Looking at the motifs of his late Skaw paintings, at first sight they appear to be a continuation of the works created by the Skaw painters in the 1880–90s, but he also introduced new aspects into his paintings. Inspired by vitalism’s view of humanity, and by the debate on colour theory at that time, Tuxen’s works stand out from those of the other painters in the colony in a number of ways.

Skagen Museum

After many years abroad, Tuxen settled in Skagen with his second wife Frederikke Treschow. They bought the farm in Vesterby that a number of artists had previously hired for the summer and converted it into a formal residence from which they engaged in the local environment.

The couple certainly understood the value of the Skaw artists’ colony and helped to establish Skagen Museum in 1908, which today has approximately 1,900 art works. However, it would take another 20 years for the museum to be built and ready for inauguration. Among the greatest contributors to the building were Laurits Tuxen, Degn Brøndum and the New Carlsberg Foundation. Tuxen continued painting portraits of royalty into his old age, but the landscapes of the picturesque top of Jutland remained his preferred motifs.

The painting up for auction here of the three girls on Skagen Beach has recently been on display in Skagen Museum and at Fuglsang Kunstmuseum for the special exhibition, “Tuxen – colours, fresh air and princes”.

Preview: 19–23 February at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen
Auction: 24 February 4 pm at the same adress

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