Large collection of Skagen paintings

The harvest girl in a golden grain field, painted by Anna Ancher in 1911, is a splendid example of the strong colouring that she employed and was renowned for. To Anna Ancher, colour and light was what is crucial in a painting. The young woman emanates strength and true character, and her red blouse is in glaring contrast to the yellow sun-ripe grain.

We find the same saturated colouring in Anna Ancher’s strong and intense blue interior with a group of children at a table. The light is reflected in the bright tablecloth and lights up the faces of the expectant children as cocoa is poured into their cups.

Another pivotal painting by Anna Ancher is the bright interior with an older couple busily engaged in the quiet pursuits of everyday life. The husband is reading the paper, while his wife is busy with her needlework. The room is peaceful and quiet. The sun shines through the windowpanes and the golden light is reflected in the pelmets. The sewing thread and the scissors are lying on the table upon which rays of light are shimmering in the colours of the tablecloth. Here, Anna Ancher gives us an example of the basic idea in Impressionism: Light and direct sense impressions constitute the crux of the painting.

P.S. Krøyer’s distinctive and well-made portrait of foreman bricklayer Heinrich Krone ranks among the main works in the collection. In 1901, during the construction of a new town hall of Copenhagen, Krøyer painted a group portrait of the architects Martin Nyrop and Emil Jørgensen and foreman bricklayer Heinrich Krone standing on the watchman’s gallery above the main frontage of the building. Today, this painting is located above the door leading into the reading room at the Town Hall Library. The present portrait of Mr. Krone, presumably commissioned following the making of the group portrait, affords us valuable insights into Krøyer’s technical brilliance as a portraitist.

Krøyer’s pencil sketch “Wait for us!” strikes a chord with most of us, especially those of us who have visited Skagen Museum: Two boys running at full tilt into the waves and out to their friends – a motif that Krøyer would return to several times.

Michael Ancher has portrayed the life and lifestyle of the fishermen living in coexistence with a rough nature. In this collection he is represented with a portrait of the fisherman Christoffer, seen in backlight at the beach. The fisherman gazes upon a distant horizon: The sea appears to be calm, but the sky portends a storm.

Another vivacious painting by Michael Ancher is a large seascape in which the waves are allowed to unfold while a storm is gathering. A solitary seagull flees before the rain begins to pour down from the sky.

Karl Madsen’s painted relatively few paintings, since he gave up painting as early as the beginning of the 1880’s in order to pursue his career as an art critic. Karl Madsen took a great liking to Anna Ancher and he gave her lessons in drawing. She would often get off scot-free when, as an art critic at the newspaper Politiken, he gave artists a hard time in his columns. One of his last paintings is an interior with Anna Ancher, sitting at her easel with her back towards the viewer - a rare motif by a Skagen painter whose work is rarely seen at auctions.

This private collection of paintings comprises the first 50 lots in the separate catalogue for Auction No. 111. The auction also features other fine Skagen painters, derived from other estates and consignors. These additional Skagen paintings include a young, naked woman in the dunes, painted in a colour-saturated impressionistic style by Laurits Tuxen in 1909, and Anna Ancher’s poetic portrait of a young, guitar-playing girl in a bright dress sitting by a piano. This painting continued to be owned by the Ancher family until 1966 when Bruun Rasmussen conducted the auction of the effects after the death of Helga Ancher.

A separate preview of the Skagen paintings is held in Bredgade in Copenhagen from July 28th to July 31st – before they are included in the general preview held in Vejle from August 8th to August 13th.

Auction: 14.–16. august

Auction catalogue