Greenland motifs up for auction

From porcelain painter to Greenland-painter

The Danish painter Emanuel A. Petersen (1894-1948) is probably best known for his renditions of the nature of Greenland, but he began his career at The Royal Danish Porcelain Manufactory in Copenhagen at a very early age. He was sent on several longer sea voyages, e.g. to the Mediterranean, England and Scotland, in order to collect materials for porcelain decorations. The intensity of these travel activities sharpened his interest in seascapes and colonies, and thus these came to be his favourite motifs. In the early years he undertook several voyages to Greenland, but he also visited other countries such as Spain and Portugal. The painter saw it as his most important task to depict the nature of Greenland as life-like as possible, and therefore his early works were painted in an extremely careful and delicate way – strongly inspired by porcelain painting. Later, he abandoned this painstaking expression and began to depict nature in a more stylized fashion. The extreme light and weather conditions specific to Greenland challenged the painter's skills and capabilities to the utmost, and yet Petersen achieved truly remarkable results and was, in time, considered a real Greenland-painter.

The online auction of March 5th features five splendid examples of Petersen's art.

Already now, these paintings are presented at the preview in our Harbour department. Read more about the auction.