Frederik Lange - Self-portrait - Google Art Project

Frederik Lange (31 July 1870 – 30 June 1941) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

painter. Initially he specialized in portrait work but in later life, after he had settled in

Skagen Skagen () is Denmark's northernmost town, on the east coast of the Skagen Odde peninsula in the far north of Jutland, part of Frederikshavn Municipality in Nordjylland, north of Frederikshavn and northeast of Aalborg. The Port of Skagen is ...

, he turned to landscapes, often depicting the sand dunes in the evening light.

Early life

Lange was born 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 ...

, Denmark. He was the son of art historian Julius Henrik Lange and Louise Aagaard. After taking an interest in painting from an early age, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy from 1893 to 1896 and then went on to 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 ...

where he was a student of P.S. Krøyer.

Career

Lange developed a Naturalistic style which can be considered moderate for the period. Throughout his life, he painted landscapes, still lifes and above all portraits which display energy, precision, and character. His landscapes show scenes of the

Little Belt The Little Belt (, ) is a strait between the island of Funen and the Jutland Peninsula in Denmark. It is one of the three Danish Straits that drain and connect the Baltic Sea to the Kattegat strait, which drains west to the North Sea and Atlant ...

Odsherred Odsherred is a peninsula in the north-western part of the island Zealand (Sjælland) in Denmark. Odsherred stretches from the Sjællands Odde in the north-west to the now drained Lammefjord in the south, covering an area with a wide range of the m ...

and

where he became a permanent resident in 1924. Here he made friends with the older members of the

Skagen Painters The Skagen Painters ( da, Skagensmalerne) were a group of Scandinavian artists who gathered in the village of Skagen, the northernmost part of Denmark, from the late 1870s until the turn of the century. Skagen was a summer destination whose scen ...

colony, some of whom had been taught by his father. He settled in Skagen Vesterby near the sprawling moors where he painted and went hunting, often in the company of King

Christian X of Denmark Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rather ...

. After a nervous breakdown in 1931, he became more withdrawn. In later years, he preferred painting in the open air, turning to landscapes rather than portraits. Among his more notable works are scenes of the sand dunes in the bright evening light. Lange received the

Eckersberg Medaillen 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 1907 and 1910.Elisabeth Fabritius
"Frederik Lange"
''Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbacks Kunstnerleksikon''. Retrieved 17 October 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lange, Frederik 1870 births 1941 deaths 19th-century Danish painters Danish male painters 20th-century Danish painters Skagen Painters People from Frederiksberg Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal 19th-century Danish male artists 20th-century Danish male artists