Frits Thaulow (20 October 1847 – 5 November 1906) was a Norwegian Impressionist painter, best known for his naturalistic depictions of landscape.
Biography
![Johan Frederik Thaulow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Johan_Frederik_Thaulow.png)
Johan Frederik Thaulow was born in
Christiania, the son of a wealthy chemist,
Harald Conrad Thaulow
Harald Thaulow (30 June 1815 – 11 March 1881) was a Norwegian pharmacist.
Biography
Harald Conrad Thaulow was born in the Duchy of Schleswig, at that time a dominion of the Danish crown. He was the son of Johan Frederik Thaulow (1768–1833) an ...
(1815–1881), and Nicoline ("Nina") Louise Munch (1821–1894). Thaulow was educated at the Academy of Art 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 ...
in 1870–1872, and from 1873 until 1875 he studied with
Hans Gude at the Baden School of Art in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
.
Thaulow was one of the earliest artists to paint in
Skagen in the north of
Jutland
Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...
, soon to become famous for its
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 ...
. He arrived there in 1879 with his friend
Christian Krohg
Christian Krohg (13 August 1852 – 16 October 1925) was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist. Krohg was inspired by the realism art movement and often chose motifs from everyday life. He was the director and s ...
, who persuaded him to spend the summer and autumn there. They arrived from Norway in Thaulow's little boat. Thaulow, who had specialized in marine painting, turned to Skagen's favourite subjects, the fishermen and the boats on the shore.
After his stay in
Skagen, Thaulow returned to Norway in 1880. He became one of the leading young figures in the Norwegian art scene, together with
Christian Krohg
Christian Krohg (13 August 1852 – 16 October 1925) was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist. Krohg was inspired by the realism art movement and often chose motifs from everyday life. He was the director and s ...
and
Erik Werenskiold, and he helped establish the first ''National Art Exhibit'' (also known as ''
Høstutstillingen'' or Autumn Exhibit) in 1882. Many of Thaulow's best known Norwegian scenes are from
Åsgårdstrand, which had become an important center for artists and painters dating from the 1880s.
Thaulow moved to France in 1892, living there until his death in 1906. He soon discovered that the cityscapes of
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
did not suit him. His best paintings were made in small towns such as
Montreuil-sur-Mer (1892–94),
Dieppe and surrounding villages (1894–98),
Quimperle in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
(1901) and
Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne in the
Corrèze
Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, ...
département (1903). One of his most famous works once he moved to france was ''A village street in France''.
In Dieppe Thaulow and his wife Alexandra made themselves popular: they were friends with artist
Charles Conder, and they met
Aubrey Beardsley.
Thaulow received a number of honors for his artistic activity, including his appointment as commander of the 2nd
Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
in 1905. He received the
French Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...
, the
Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the wo ...
from Italy and the Order of
Nichan Iftikhar from
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
. He died in
Volendam, in The Netherlands. The
National Gallery of Norway
The National Gallery ( no, Nasjonalgalleriet) is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.
, the admission cost is 100 Norwegian kroner.
History
It was establishe ...
features 37 of his works. Other prominent displays include the
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
in
St. Petersburg, the
Museum of Fine Arts in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and the
Busch-Reisinger Museum
The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.
Personal life
Thaulow was married twice. In 1874 he married Ingeborg Charlotte Gad (1852–1908). The marriage dissolved in 1886. In 1886, he married Alexandra Lasson (1862–1955), the daughter of
Carl Lasson (1830–1893), a noted Norwegian attorney. He had three children with his second wife: Harald Thaulow (1887–1971), Ingrid Thaulow (1892–1983) and Christian Lasson Thaulow (1895–1944).
[Alexandra Lasson on Geni website]
Selected gallery
Image:Portrait of Frederik Collett by Frits Thaulow.jpg, ''Portrait of Frederik Collett''
1875
Image:Frits Thaulow - River (c. 1883).jpg, ''A River''
1883
Image:Frits Thaulow-Norsk vinterlandskap 1890.jpg, ''Norsk vinterlandskap''
1890
Image:Frits Thaulow Ambiance Du Soir 1893.png, ''Ambiance Du Soir''
1893
Image:BRO I VERONA (PONTE PIETRA, VERONA).PNG, ''Ponte Pietra, Verona''
1894
Image:Frits Thaulow - Area of Venice (1894).jpg, ''Area of Venice''
1894
Image:Frits Thaulow Kveldstemning, Dieppe 1894-1898.png, ''Kveldstemning, Dieppe''
1894-1898
Image:Frits Thaulow - A Château in Normandy.jpg, ''A Château in Normandy''
1895
Image:Frits Thaulow-Fra Dieppe med elven Arques.jpg, ''Fra Dieppe med elven Arques''
1895
Image:Frits Thaulow Måneskinn Dieppe 1896.png, ''Måneskinn Dieppe''
1896
Image:Frits Thaulow - Boulevard de la Madeleine à Paris (1890s).jpg, ''Boulevard de la Madeleine à Paris''
1896-1897
Image:Frits Thaulow - Fra Akerselven.jpg, ''Fra Akerselven''
1897-1901
Image:Frits Thaulow-Marmortrappen.jpg, ''Marmortrappen''
1903
Image:Frits Thaulow - En gate i måneskinn - A street in moonlight.jpg, ''Moonlight in Beaulieu''
1904
Image:Place Marbot by Frits Thaulow.tif, ''Place Marbot''
1904
Image:Thaulow, Dordrecht.jpg, ''Dordrecht''
1905
Image:Frits Thaulow - rialto.jpg, ''Under the Rialto Bridge of Venice''
Image:Frits Thaulow View of Venice.png, ''View of Venice''
Image:Frits Thaulow Hiver à Paris.png, ''Winter in Paris''
Image:Thaulow Le Curé.jpg, ''The Priest''
References
Other sources
* Pakenham, Simona. ''Sixty Miles from England: The English at Dieppe 1814-1914'', (London, Macmillan, 1967).
* Poulsson, Vidar ''Frits Thaulow: 1847-1906'' (B.A. Mathisen. 1992)
* Poulsson, Vidar; Thune, Richard M. ''Frits Thaulow'' (Hirschl & Adler Galleries; 1985)
* Haverkamp, Frode (trans. Joan Fuglesang) ''Hans Fredrik Gude: From National Romanticism to Realism in Landscape'' (Aschehoug. 1992)
External links
Kulturnett.no''Small town square'', Fritz Thaulow on the official website of the Musée Rodin.
Alexandra Lasson on Geni
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thaulow, Frits
1847 births
1906 deaths
Recipients of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
Norwegian landscape painters
Norwegian Impressionist painters
Artists from Oslo
Skagen Painters
19th-century Norwegian painters
19th-century male artists
20th-century Norwegian painters
Norwegian male painters
20th-century male artists