bru u n rasm ussen fin e art + an tiqu es

52
P. S. Krøyer
b. Stavanger 1851, d. Skagen 1909
"Nøgen dreng, set fra højre Side i Løb paa Sandet ud mod Vandet".
Naked boy running on the beach towards the sea. Study for the
painting "Badende drenge" (Boys bathing) from 1892. Signed and
dated S. Krøyer Skagen 92. Oil on canvas. 61 x 43 cm.
H. Chr. Christensen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of P. S. Krøyer no.
503. Numbers 502 to 509 in the Catalogue Raisonné are all studies for
no. 510: "Badende Drenge" (Boys bathing).
Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, "P. S. Krøyer 1851-1909", 1910 no. 219.
Literature: Alba Schwartz, "Skagen", 1912 and 1913, p. 214.
Provenance: L. Zeuthen, Lawyer.
In the summers 1891-1893, Krøyer rented a former post office and inn
in the North Jutland town of Skagen. There he could enjoy the festive
gatherings of the artistic colony and take advantage of the many opportunities
for plein-air painting. It was at this point that he began to
experiment with the colour range of blue, which dominated many of his
atmospheric pictures in the 1890s. Among the well-known works from
this period, with predominating range of blues, are, "Badende Drenge en
Sommeraften ved Skagen Strand" (Boys Bathing on a Summer Evening
at Skagen Beach) 1892; the large double- portrait "Sommeraften ved
Skagen Strand. Kunstneren og hans hustru", 1899 (The Hirschsprung
Collection, Copenhagen); and lastly "Sommeraften på Skagen Sønderstrand"
(Summer Evening at Skagen Beach), 1893 (The Skagen Museum),
with the two white-clad artist's wives, Marie Krøyer and Anna Ancher.
Krøyer's paintings of children bathing can be seen in the context of the
widespread interest in Vitalism which developed in the 1890s. Vitalism
was a broad European current of ideas which cultivated the beautiful,
the vigorous, the nude body, health, strength, the masculine hero, the
emancipated woman, light and Nature in all its glory. Besides captivating
interest of painters such as Krøyer and Willumsen, Vitalism was also
adopted and interpreted by a number of the period's sculptors, architects,
composers and writers. The painting being auctioned here is a brilliant
example of both Vitalism and Krøyer's use of the blue colour scale.
DKK 1,200,000-1,500,000 / € 160,000-200,000
46 BRUUN RASMUSSEN BREdgAdE AUcTION 806