Michael_Ancher_portrætfoto_2_-_Restoration

Michael Peter Ancher (9 June 1849 – 19 September 1927) was a Danish realist artist, and widely known for his paintings of fishermen, the lakes, and other scenes from the Danish fishing community 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 ...

Early life and education

Michael Peter Ancher was born at

Rutsker Rutsker is a small settlement in Rutsker Parish on the Danish island of Bornholm. It is situated in the north western part of the island, 3 km northeast of Hasle. The populated area lies immediately south of Ruth's Church. As of 2009, Rutsk ...

on the island of

Bornholm Bornholm () is a Danish island in the Baltic Sea, to the east of the rest of Denmark, south of Sweden, northeast of Germany and north of Poland. Strategically located, Bornholm has been fought over for centuries. It has usually been ruled by ...

. The son of a local merchant, he attended school in

Rønne Rønne ( sv, Rönne) is the largest town on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It has a population of 13,807 (1 January 2022). It was a municipality in its own right from 1970 until 2002, when Bornholm was a county (Danish: ''Bornh ...

but was unable to complete his secondary education as his father ran into financial difficulties, forcing him to fend for himself. In 1865, he found work as an apprentice clerk at Kalø Manor near

Rønde Rønde (or Roende) is a town on the southern part of the peninsula, Djursland in Denmark, Northern Europe, 23 kilometers north-east of the north end of Denmark's second largest city, Aarhus. It is in part a commuter town to Aarhus, with a motorw ...

in eastern

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 ...

. The following year, he met the painters

Theodor Philipsen Theodor Esbern Philipsen (10 June 18403 March 1920) was a Danish painter of Jewish ancestry; known for landscapes and animal portraits. He also did small figures in wax and clay. Biography Theodor Philipsen was born at Copenhagen to a cultured me ...

and

Vilhelm Groth Georg Vilhelm Arnold Groth (9 March 1842, Copenhagen - 14 September 1899, Copenhagen) was a Danish landscape painter. Biography His father was a pharmacist and his mother came from a family of merchants. After taking a diploma at the Det von ...

who had arrived in the area to paint. Impressed with his own early work, they encouraged him to take up painting as a profession. In 1871, he spent a short period at C.V Nielsen's art school as a preliminary to joining the

Royal Danish Academy of Art 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 ...

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 ...

later in the year. Although he spent some time at the academy, he left in 1875 without graduating. One of his student companions was

Karl Madsen Carl Johan Wilhelm Madsen, commonly known as Karl Madsen, (22 March 1855 – 16 April 1938) was a Danish painter and art historian with close connections to the Skagen Painters. Early life and education Born in Copenhagen on 22 March 1855, Ma ...

who invited him to travel to

, a small fishing village in the far north of Jutland where the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

and

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

converge. From the mid-1870s, he and Madsen became key members of a group of artists who congregated there each summer, known as 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 ...

. After Ancher first visited Skagen in 1874, he settled there joining the growing society of artists. The colony of painters regularly met in the

Brøndums Hotel Brøndums Hotel, in the little harbor town of Skagen in the north of Denmark, is remembered for its close associations with the late 19th-century artists colony known as the Skagen Painters. It still operates as a hotel today. History The hotel ...

in Skagen in order to exchange ideas. In 1880 Ancher married fellow painter and Skagen native Anna Brøndum, whose father owned the Brøndums Hotel. In the first years of their marriage, the couple had a home and studio in the "Garden House", which is now in the garden of the Skagens Museum. After the birth of their daughter Helga in 1883, the family moved to Markvej in Skagen.

Career

He achieved his artistic breakthrough in 1879 with the painting ''Vil han klare pynten'' ('' Will He Round the Point?''). Michael Ancher's works depict Skagen's heroic fishermen and their dramatic experiences at sea, combining realism and with classical composition. Key works include ''The Lifeboat is Carried Through The Dunes'' (1883), ''The Crew Are Saved'' (1894) and ''The Drowned Man'' (1896). Michael Ancher was influenced by his traditional training at 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 ...

in the 1870s which imposed strict rules for composition. His marriage to

Anna Ancher Anna Ancher (18 August 1859 – 15 April 1935) was a Danish artist associated with the Skagen Painters, an artist colony on the northern point of Jylland, Denmark. She is considered to be one of Denmark's greatest visual artists. Background An ...

did, however, introduce him to the naturalistic concept of undecorated reproduction of reality and its colours. By combining the pictorial composition of his youth with the teachings of naturalism, Michael Ancher created what has been called modern monumental figurative art, such as ''A Baptism''. Michael Ancher - A stroll on the beach - Google Art Project

Michael Ancher - A stroll on the beach - Google Art Project

Among other places, the works of Anna and Michael Ancher can be seen at the

Skagens Museum Skagens Museum is an art museum in Skagen, Denmark, that exhibits an extensive collection of works by members of the colony of Skagen Painters who lived and worked in the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Important artists include ...

Statens Museum for Kunst The National Gallery of Denmark ( da, Statens Museum for Kunst, also known as "SMK", literally State Museum for Art) is the Danish national gallery, located in the centre of Copenhagen. The museum collects, registers, maintains, researches and han ...

, the Frederiksborg Museum, The Hirschsprung Collection, and Ribe Art Museum. Michael Ancher received the

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 1889 and in 1894 the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

. Originally many of Ancher's paintings hung in the dining room of the Brøndums Hotel. The painter P.S. Krøyer conceived the idea of placing paintings by different artists in the wall panels. In 1946 the dining hall was moved to Skagens Museum.

Michael and Anna Ancher's home

The Skagen residence of Anna and Michael Ancher was purchased in 1884. In 1913, a large studio annex was added to the property and this also forms part of what is on display today. Upon her death in 1964, their daughter, Helga Ancher, left the house and all of its contents to the Helga Ancher Foundation. In 1967 the home was turned into a museum, the

Anchers Hus Anchers Hus is an art museum and gallery situated in the former residence of the painters Michael and Anna Ancher in Skagen, Denmark. Anchers Hus is located on Markvej in Skagen, Denmark. History Michael Ancher (1849-1927) and Anna Ancher (18 ...

. The original furniture and paintings created by the Anchers and other Skagen artists are shown in the restored home and studio. Temporary art exhibitions are arranged in ''Saxilds Gaard'', another building on the property. This house is filled with displays of paintings by Michael and Anna Ancher as well as those by many other Skagen painters who made up their circle of friends. Today the house is a part of Skagens Kunstmuseer. File:Michael & Anna Anchers Hus i Skagen, 2007 ubt.jpeg, Michael and Anna Ancher's home, Anchers Hus, in Skagen File:ANCHER HOUSE INTERIOR - SKAGEN, DENMARK.jpg, The dining room in the Ancher house File:Anchers hus atelje.JPG, The artist's atelier

Danish thousand-kroner bill

Anna and Michael Ancher were featured on the front of the previous series DKK1000 bill. The first version of the bill came into circulation on 18 September 1998, and was then updated on 25 November 2004, adding more security features. The front of the banknote featured a double portrait of Anna and Michael Ancher, derived from two 1884 paintings by

Peder Severin Krøyer Peder Severin Krøyer (; 23 July 1851 – 21 November 1909), also known as P. S. Krøyer, was a Danish painter. Life Growing up and early training Krøyer was born in Stavanger, Norway, on 23 July 1851 to Ellen Cecilie Gjesdal. He was rai ...

which originally hung on the walls in the dining room at Brøndums Hotel.

Paintings

File:Michael Ancher - Christmas Day 1900 - Google Art Project.jpg, Christmas Day 1900 A Baptism (Michael Ancher).jpg, A Baptism Michael Ancher Strandszene.jpg, Beach scene File:Michael Ancher - Skagen girl, Maren Sofie, knitting. - Google Art Project.jpg, Skagen girl, Maren Sofie, knitting Fishermen.1.jpg, Two Fishermen by a boat File:Michael Ancher - Den røde redningsbåd sejler ud.jpg, The red lifeboat on its way out to the sea File:Michael Ancher - Portrait of my wife. The painter Anna Ancher - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Portrait of My Wife, the Painter Anna Ancher'' File:Michael Ancher - Anna Ancher returning from the field - Google Art Project.jpg,

returning from the field Michael Ancher - Unfinished portrait of Adrian Stokes.JPG, Unfinished portrait of Adrian Stokes

References

Bibliography

External links

Brøndums Hotel

Skagen Paintings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancher, Michael Peter 1849 births 1927 deaths 19th-century Danish painters Danish male painters 20th-century Danish painters Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog People from Bornholm Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Skagen Painters 19th-century Danish male artists 20th-century Danish male artists