Peder Severin Krøyer – Light Above All Else
Peder Severin (P.S.) Krøyer (1851-1909) is one of the most central figures in the Modern Breakthrough of Danish art, alongside Vilhelm Hammershøi and Laurits Andersen Ring. P.S. Krøyer was also one of the finest Skagen painters who throughout his artistic career was preoccupied with light above all else. With quick and spontaneous brushstrokes, he seized the light of the moment and brought it to life on the canvas like no other painter. It is especially P.S. Krøyer’s motifs from Skagen, which brought him international fame and recognition. In the same way as with the light, he succeeded in recreating the lifeblood of the area through depictions of the artists’ colourful lives and special moonlit evenings by the sea.
“There is a time of day I cannot resist in Skagen. It is when the moonlight quietly lingers above the beach. You will find me there immediately with my sketchbook.”
Peder Severin Krøyer
Already as a child, P.S. Krøyer showed a unique talent for drawing, and he began attending the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen at the age of 14. In 1877 his talent brought him to both France, Spain and Italy to study. Especially his studies with Léon Bonnat in Paris became pivotal for his further career. P.S. Krøyer was among the greatest portrait painters of the time, but when he visited Skagen for the first time in the summer of 1882, he was drawn to the nature, the light and the life of the local people in the village, which had already become a meeting place for artists. He moved to Skagen together with his wife and fellow artist, Marie Krøyer (née Triepecke), and it was with his arrival that the Skagen painters went from being a small quiet artistic movement to gaining great international attention.
There was always a party brewing, when P.S. Krøyer was present, and these gatherings became motifs for some of his best-known works, such as “Hip Hip Hurrah!” from 1888 (The Gothenburg Museum of Art). The depictions of the quiet “blue hour” at Skagen beach are also particularly well-known, with probably his most iconic work being “Summer Evening at Skagen Sønderstrand” from 1893 (the Art Museums of Skagen). Today, P.S. Krøyer’s paintings are constantly on display at major exhibitions in both Denmark and abroad with “Krøyer – an International Perspective“ at The Hirschsprung Collection in 2012 and more recently “L’Heure Bleue – de Peder Severin Krøyer” in 2021 at Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris and “Krøyer and Paris – French Connections and Nordic Colours” in 2022 at the Art Museums of Skagen.