Danish Artists | Sitemap

Danish Art is the visual arts produced in Denmark or by Danish artists. It goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, such as the Trundholm sun chariot. For many early periods, it is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia.

Art from what is today Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, and then Norse and Viking art.

Danish medieval painting is almost entirely known from church frescos such as those from the 16th-century artist known as the Elmelunde Master.

The Reformation greatly disrupted Danish artistic traditions, and left the existing body of painters and sculptors without large markets.

Hans-Andersen-Brendekilde-Wooded-Path-In-Autumn-1902

John Palmer Wicker | Autumn, 1924 | Detroit Institute of Arts

John Palmer Wicker (1860-1931) was born in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Feb. 23, 1860; son of William W. and Charlotte Adelaide (Palmer) Wicker; studied art seven years in Paris, three and one-half years at Julian Academy under William Bouguereau, and three and one-half years in private classes of Ferdinand Cormon; married at Saginaw, Mich., July, 1897, Marie Louise Saxmann.

Exhibited portraits three times in Paris salons; exhibited three portraits at St. Louis Exposition, 1904; has taught for ten years; associate director Detroit Fine Arts Academy.

Jens Ferdinand Willumsen | Symbolist / Expressionist painter

Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (7 September 1863 - 4 April 1958) was a Danish painter, sculptor, graphic artist, architect and photographer. He became associated with the movements of Symbolism🎨 and Expressionism.

J. F. Willumsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was the son of Hans Willumsen and Ane Kirstine. He was initially trained in art at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1881-1885 and in architecture at the Copenhagen Technical College from 1879-1882. He completed his education in 1885 with the artists P.S. Krøyer🎨 (1851-1909) and Laurits Tuxen (1853-1927).

His works were exhibited in the Paris Salon, the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Société des Artistes Indépendants, the art gallery of Le Barc de Boutteville and at the Exposition Universelle (1900).

He was employed from 1897-1900 as an artistic director at the porcelain factory Bing and Grøndahl. Besides painting, Willumsen had interests in sculpture, architecture, ceramics, and photography, and was an accomplished engraver.

His sculpture The Great Relief🎨 (completed 1928) was included in the 2006 Danish Culture Canon as one of Denmark's cultural masterpieces.
Willumsen visited Norway in 1892 and had associations with Skagen in the north of Jutland which he first visited in 1906. It was here that he carried out most of the preparatory work on his painting Badende børn på Skagen strand (completed in 1909).

Willumsen was an influence on Norwegian landscape painter Kitty Lange Kielland (1843–1914), who attempted to simplify her art in order to follow his style.
In 1910, he toured Spain, Italy, Greece and Tunisia. Willumsen lived almost half of his life in France. He settled in the south of France in 1916.
He was awarded the Prince Eugen Medal🎨 in 1947. He died in Cannes during 1958.

The J.F. Willumsens Museum, which exhibits many of his works, was opened during 1957 in Frederikssund. There are also paintings by Willumsen in the collection of the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum in Aarhus, Denmark and at the special Victor Petersen's Willumsen Collection near Hjørring.

PJens Ferdinand Willumsen nasce a Copenaghen il 7 settembre del 1863, figlio unico di Hans Willumsen ed Ane Kirstine. Lo stesso Willumsen credeva che lo scultore Jens Adolf Jerichau fosse il suo vero padre. Il rapporto con la madre fu sempre ottimo, mentre più problematico fu il legame con il padre. Alla morte di Ane nel 1899 il giovane artista costruì un imponente monumento funebre per i suoi genitori, eretto definitivamente nella città di Vestre Kirkegård nel 1901. Suo padre morì nel 1910.

Si sposò due volte. Il suo primo matrimonio, con Juliette Meyer, gli diede due figli, Jan e Bode. Juliette fu anche modella per Willumsen. Nel 1903 sposò la scultrice Edith Wessel con la quale ebbe due figlie, Gersemi e Anse. Anche Edith compare nelle opere dell'artista, in particolare in Alpina (Hagemans Kollegium and The Royal Musem of Fine Arts) e in Dopo la tempesta, nelle vesti di madre in The evening Soup e in Il Pittore e la sua famiglia. Alcune le due figlie appaiono in alcuni lavori.

Trascorse la vecchiaia in compagnia della ballerina e pittrice francese Michelle Bourret, ritratta nei lavori degli anni trenta. Tutte le sue mogli furono artiste e lo supportarono nella sua attività.

Visse quasi metà della sua vita in Francia. Morì a Cannes nel 1958.

Thomas Gainsborough | Rococo portrait painter

Thomas Gainsborough🎨 (1727-1788) was an British🎨 portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.

Along with his bitter rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds🎨 he is considered one of the most important British portrait artists of the second half of the 18th century.

He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes.

He is credited (with Richard Wilson) as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school.

Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.

Marcel Nino Pajot, 1945 | Figurative painter

Marcel Nino Pajot, is an French painter and book illustrator born in Vergt, Dordogne, France.

He is a self-taught artist who improved his drawing skills communicating with other amateur artists.

The first time he participated in an art exhibition was at the age of thirty-six.

Presently, Marcel Nino Pajot is the well known artist who travels in international exhibitions and has earned awards and medals for his works.

Luis de Morales (El Divino) | Mannerist painter

Luis de Morales, byname El Divino (Spanish: “The Divine”), (born c. 1509, Badajoz, Spain - died May 9, 1586, Badajoz), painter who was the first Spanish artist🎨 of pronounced national character, considered to be the greatest native Mannerist painter🎨 of Spain.

He is remembered for his emotional religious paintings, which earned him his sobriquet and greatly appealed to the Spanish populace.

Morales may have studied with the Flemish painter🎨 Hernando Sturmio in Badajoz or with Pedro de Campaña in Seville.

He worked in Badajoz from 1546, leaving on occasional commissions but making his home there all his life. Summoned by Philip II of Spain to help in the decoration of El Escorial, he painted a Christ Carrying the Cross that did not please the king and was removed to the Church of San Jerónimo, Madrid.

Morales always worked on panels, often depicting subjects related to the Passion of Christ, such as Ecce Homo and Pietà (1560-70), and the Virgin and Child.

Perhaps the best known of these panels are 20 on the Life of Christ, painted for the Church of Arroyo del Puerco (1563-68).

All of his paintings are marked by detailed execution and anguished asceticism.

His work shows Flemish influences as well as some of the technical characteristics of Lombard Leonardesque painters; this has led scholars to believe that he might have traveled to Italy.

He remains an artist remarkably representative of his period and nation. | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Luis de Morales (Badajoz, 1509 - Badajoz, 9 maggio 1586) è stato un pittore Spagnolo🎨.

A causa della fama avuta in vita dovuta alla sua predilezione per tempi religiosi, venne soprannominato «El divino Morales».

La sua attività artistica si svolse principalmente in Estremadura, sebbene le sue opere furono oggetto di ammirazione in tutta la penisola.

Nelle sue opere si nota un allargamento delle figure, oltre all'uso della tecnica dello sfumato leonardesco, il che farebbe pensare ad una certa influenza delle scuole pittoriche straniere. Ciò nonostante, il suo particolare stile di rappresentazione è facilmente identificabile.

• Vita e formazione

Sebbene lo storico e pittore Antonio Palomino collochi la nascita di Morales all'inizio del secolo, la data più probabile è senza dubbio più tarda, intorno al 1520, come afferma la maggioranza degli studiosi.

Il critico d'arte spagnolo Juan Antonio Gaya Nuño ha invece reso improbabile un'altra ipotesi, sostenuta da Palomino, che situa la data di nascita dell'artista tra il 1509- 1510, a causa delle difficoltà cronologiche legate alla prima parte della sua vita.

Per questo altri storici ritardarono la data; per esempio, August L. Mayer la collocò nel primo quarto del XVI secolo, senza fornire altri dettagli.

Elizabeth du Gué Trapier la situò «probabilmente nella prima metà del secolo», mentre il tedesco Werner Goldschmidt posticipò la data della sua nascita al 1543, attualmente ritenuta impossibile, dato che il figlio dell'artista nacque sei anni dopo.

Secondo Gaya Nuño, Morales nacque intorno al 1520, e al tempo del suo matrimonio aveva trent'anni. Questa ipotesi confermerebbe dunque che l'età del pittore era sulla sessantina quando Filippo II passò da Badajoz, desidoroso di conoscerlo.

Altrettanto incerte sono le vicende relative alla sua formazione. Seguendo lo studio di Gaya Nuño, è possibile dividere in tre tappe la sua formazione: una prima a Siviglia, una in Italia e un'altra in Portogallo.

A Siviglia, Morales imparò le prime nozioni d'arte dal già affermato maestro Pedro de Campaña.

Non è comunque da scartare l'ipotesi di una formazione a contatto con altri maestri, città e botteghe, allora particolarmente fiorenti nella città spagnola, capitale bassa dell'Estremadura. | © Wikipedia

Gustav Klimt | Drawings

In 1963, the Albertina museum in Vienna began researching the drawings of Gustav Klimt.

The research project Gustav Klimt. Die Zeichnungen, has since been associated with intensive exhibition and publication activities.

Between 1980 and 1984 Alice Strobl published the three-volume catalogue raisonné, which records and describes all drawings by Gustav Klimt known at the time in chronological order.

An additional supplementary volume was published in 1989.

George Bellows | Ashcan School painter

George Wesley Bellows, (1882-1925), American painter and lithographer noted for his paintings of action scenes and for his expressive portraits and seascapes.

Bellows attended Ohio State University before moving in 1904 to New York City, where he studied at the New York School of Art under Robert Henri, leader of the group of American realist painters called The Eight.

Johannes Vermeer | Baroque Era painter

The life and art of Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) are closely associated with the city of Delft.

He was born in Delft in 1632 and lived there until his death in 1675. His father, Reynier Vermeer, was a silk weaver who produced caffa, a fine satin fabric, but in 1631 he also registered in the Saint Luke’s Guild in Delft as a master art dealer.

By 1641 he was sufficiently prosperous to purchase a large house, the “Mechelen”, which contained an inn on the market square in Delft and from which he probably also sold paintings.

Johannes Vermeer | The Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1665

Girl with a Pearl Earring / Meisje met de parel is Vermeer’s most famous painting.

It is not a portrait, but a ‘tronie’ - a painting of an imaginary figure. Tronies depict a certain type or character; in this case a girl in exotic dress, wearing an oriental turban and an improbably large pearl in her ear.

Johannes Vermeer was the master of light. This is shown here in the softness of the girl’s face and the glimmers of light on her moist lips. And of course, the shining pearl. | © Mauritshuis Museum in Hague

Michelangelo Buonarroti: "Non ha l'ottimo artista alcun concetto" | Sonetto 151

Non ha l’ottimo artista alcun concetto

c’un marmo solo in sé non circonscriva

col suo superchio, e solo a quello arriva

la man che ubbidisce all’intelletto.