Skagen

Skagen, more than just a picturesque destination, was also the center of a particulat artistic movement that found on its characteristic light and landscapes the source of their inspiration and founded what later became to be known as the group of Skagen Painters (Skagensmalerne). Because of its Geographic location right in the Northernmost point of the Jutland Peninsula, Skagen was along the years a very remote and sparsely populated place, visited and inhabited almost exclusively by fishermen. Nevertheless the waters that surrounds Skagen have been always everything but calm, as this is the place where the Baltic and the North Sea meets, giving the place its very untamed athmosphere that captivate many people´s heart.

Nowadays, the place has become a quite picturesque one, and a favorite destination for visitors either from Denmark as well as from abroad. The combination of a wild landscape and cozy little colorful houses creates the magical postcards that first caught the atention of the founders of the Skagen artistic fellowship. Desertification, which was once a trouble, has been the origin of an unsurpassable Dune ecosystem that shelters several bird species. By far, the most atractive part when it comes towild environment is Grenen, the Northernmost point both of Skagen and Denmark, where the Skagerrak and Kattegat straits meet, creating a very turbulent sea zone that has seen not a little number of shipwrecks. Thus, Grenen has been the site where many lighthouses have been built since centuries ago, and evennowadays,,a lighthouse from the 1850´s still stands being a main touristic atraction and a memorial of the Skagen´s sea heritage.

The Råbjerg Mile

A huge dune with an area of ca. 1 km² and more than 4 million m³ of sand, The Råbjerg Mile is the largest moving dune in Northern Europe, that use to be moved by the wind several meters per year. Although this dune has less than 300 years of existance, the presence of several giant dunes like this was a problem for the local population in ancient times, producing desertification of the few inhabitable areas available. The desertification of the area which achieved its peak during the XVIII and XIX centuries indeed led to the abandonment of several houses and cabins, and also, the abandonment of the old church that was finally covered by the sand. This church "Den tilsandende Kirke" or "The Buried Church" still remain on its old location, only its tower protruding from the sand. In 1857 the Danish government began several actions in order to prevent the unstoppable movement of the dunes, like planting grass and conifer fields. It took almost a century to finally get into control the dunes. Nevertheless, it was decided to let the Råbjerg Mile to remain because of its scientific importance and because is an important ecosytem that shelters several bird species.

The rests of the old Church still remains,,under the unstoppable sand of the Dunes.

The original population of Skagen, fishermen and their tough life portraited in  Michael Ancher ´s"Vil han klare pynten" that was bought by the very king of Denmark.

The Skagen Painters.

But maybe the reason because Skagen is best renowned, is due of the group of artists that settled there from the late 1870´s until the beginning of the XX century and that were later known as the "Skagen Painters", that included some other artist besides from painters, like the Danish composer Carl Nielsen and the writer Henrik Pontopiddan. But it was definetively the name of Michael Ancher the one who remained definetively linked to the place.

Michael Ancher was an Art student in Copenhaguen that was looking for a source of inspiration diferent to that available in the Danish capital. Highly influenced by the Realist movement that was the trend during those days, Ancher went to Skagen to paint the local fishermen and their way of life. Almost inmediately, he became friend of the Brøndom family, who owned an managed a local Cafe and a sort of Guest House. Falling in love with the place, Ancher returned the following year, along with his friends Karl Madsen and Viggo Johansen who were also painters. They began to develop an style that was a certain mixture of impressionism and realism, that in the landscape of Skagen had a never ending source of subjects worth to be portraited.

 Anna Ancher "Solskin i den blå stue"

Michael Ancher "To fiskere ved"

The following years, several other painters began to arrive to the place, trying to paint the characteristic light of the place. The Brøndom´s guest house became the meeting point for the artists, and the seeds for the born of the new movement were planted. Ancher definetively settled in Skagen and became engaged with Anna, the daughter of the owners of the Brøndom house, for finally getting married in 1880. The success for the artists finally arrived when just a few time after the Danish King Christian IX bought one of Ancher´s paintings. Soon, some other renowned artist from whole Scandinavia began to arrive to Skagen, including names like Oscar Björck, Carl Locher, Holger Drachmann and most notably the norwegian Christian Krohg and the danish painter Peder Severin Krøyer, who became some of the most remarkable representants of the Skagen style. Even Anna Ancher bcame a remarkable painter, highly influenced by all those artists who joined in her Guest House, mainly assimilating Christian Krohg´s style in the way of painting people and their everyday life. Indeed, Christian Krohg, who was already a famous painter, brought with him the latest international artistic trends, highly influencing the other members of the fellowship, but being also influenced as well by the environment of the picturesque place, achieving the peak and the most mature point of his artistic career.

 Michael Ancher "En Skagensfisker siddende i en jolle"

One of Krøyer´s archetypical paintings, that perfectly caughts the light an environment that prevails in Skagen "Sommeraften på Skagen Sønderstrand" 

Peder Severin Krøyer

The artist that became the “de facto” leader of the group and maybe the most representative member of the Skagen school, because of his colorful and vibrant paintings that perfectly happened to caught the light ant the athmosphere of the place, was this man of Norwegian- Danish origin, educated in the most prestigious art institutes of the time. Krøyer first arrived to the then remote village in 1882, after having met the Anchers in Vienna, bringing with him, like did Krohg, several influences from the Paris´ mainstream, as he was close related with the impressionist scene in the French capitol.

The artist began as well to develop closer ties between each other and with the rest of the community of Skagen (A painting by Krøyer “Hip, Hip, Hurra!!” perfectly depict the tight union between them) As mentioned before, Michael ancher married Anna Brøndum while Viggo Johansen married one of Anna´s cousins and Karl Madsen did the same with a local schoolteacher named Helen Christensen. The new house of the Anchers became the center of the artist community and was many years later the first see of the Skagen´s Museum, dedicated to the works of the group. Krøyer did the same and married Marie Triepcke and spent almost all of his time living in the small village until his death.

 Christian Krogh "Til Vaers"

Depicting the rude life of a sailor man.

Marie Krøyer, painted by his husband Peder.

 P S Krøyer "Selvportrait from 1897"

The magical times came to its end.

The arrive of the railway in 1890 brought with it the beginning of the end for the artistic community. With the new railway Skagen began to become a popular touristic atraction and the visitors began to crowd the previously peaceful village. It is stated that the artist found no more reason to stay as the Skagen they had originally known was slowly fading. Even so,,many of them kept the houses that had previously purchased, only to use them for short periods.

 

Krøyer´s health began to deteriorate and his relation with Marie ended in divorce in 1905. Krøyer died 4 years later, in Skagen, alone and after having suffered several mental disorders. Michael Ancher died in 1927 and Anna in 1935. In 1964, their daughter Helga, the little cheerful girl in the Hip, hip Hurra! painting, kept the house of her parents, until her death in 1964, when she left it to a foundation whose goal was to create a museum, the Skagen´s museum, dedicated to keep alive the memory of the happy and wonderful deeds that happened once in that remote and picturesque fishermen´s village, covered by dunes, in the last decades of the XIX century, in the Northernmost tip of Denmark.

The house of the Anchers, now the see of the Skagen Museum 

The famous painting, that caught like no other the magical moments of the artistic community. P.S. Krøyer "Hip, hip, hurra!" Only memories in canvas were left, from those extraordinary times.

All pics by Wikicommons