Viggo Thorvald Edvard Weie (18 November 1879 - 9 April 1943) was a Danish

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

painter. He was a recipient of

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The Ec ...

in 1925. He died during 1943 in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

Biography

Weie was born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Denmark. His father went away when Edvard was still very young and left his family in poverty. To help out, he would deliver newspapers every morning before school and later worked as a house painter. Despite the hardship, he was able to take art lessons. When he came of age, he went to Copenhagen to apply for admission to the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dani ...

, but was not accepted. Hanne Abildgaard
Artist: Edvard Weie
Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbach Kunstnerleksikon It was not until 1905, when he was already twenty-five years old, that he was able to enter the

Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler was an art school established in Copenhagen in 1882 as a protest against the policies of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and to provide an alternative to its educational program. It existed until 1912 and was a c ...

, operated by

Kristian Zahrtmann Peder Henrik Kristian Zahrtmann, known as Kristian Zahrtmann, (31 March 1843 – 22 June 1917) was a Denmark, Danish Painting, painter. He was a part of the Danish artistic generation in the late 19th century, along with Peder Severin Krøyer and ...

(1843–1917). It was there that he was introduced to

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

. He became a favored student and accompanied Zahrtmann on a trip to Italy in 1907, but returned prematurely when they had a falling-out. Back in Denmark, he painted a series of interiors and landscapes. From 1911 to 1920, he would spend part of every year painting on the island of

Christiansø Ertholmene (formerly spelled ''Ærtholmene)'' is a small archipelago in Denmark. The largest island is Christiansø, and its name often refers to the entire archipelago. Ertholmene is situated northeast of Gudhjem, Bornholm, and contains De ...

. It was there he met the Swedish painter

Karl Isakson Karl Oscar Isakson (16 January 1878, in Stockholm – 19 February 1922) was a Swedish painter who spent much of his professional life in Denmark where he is considered to be one of the fathers of Modernism. He had close associations with the Bor ...

(1878–1922). After Isakson's early death in 1922, Weie made an extensive study of his uses of color, and applied what he learned to his own works. Bust of Edvard Weie (1908)

He had begun by painting works with a mythological or literary basis, but later came to favor street scenes and views of Copenhagen harbor. He would often paint several versions of the same concept. Due to his intense self-criticism, many of these would end up in the fire. Over the years, his works became increasingly abstract. He was awarded the

in 1925, but he was not a member of any artistic movement and contributed numerous harsh critical pieces to newspapers and magazines that served to isolate him from his peers. He felt that contemporary Danish art was in a crisis and lacked human values. In his later years, he rarely exhibited, but gave much of his time to writing a book that would clearly summarize his opinions. It was published posthumously, in 1951, by his widow, under the title ''Poesi og Kultur''. He died during 1943 in

and was buried at Vestre Kirkegard in Copenhagen.

Selected paintings

Weie-Wife.jpg, ''The Artists' Wife'' Weie-Langelinie.jpg, ''At

Langelinie Langelinie (English: Long Line) is a pier, promenade and park in central Copenhagen, Denmark, and home of ''The Little Mermaid'' statue. The area has for centuries been a popular destination for excursions and strolls in Copenhagen. Most cruise s ...

'' Stående kvindelig model.jpg, ''Female Model'' Weie-Dante.jpg, ''

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

in the Underworld''

References

External links

ArtNet: More works by Weie.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weie, Edvard 1879 births 1943 deaths 19th-century Danish painters Danish male painters 20th-century Danish painters Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Artists from Copenhagen Abstract artists Expressionist painters 19th-century Danish male artists 20th-century Danish male artists

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links