Niels Lergaard (10 February 1893-25 July 1982) was a Danish painter. He was a member of the

Bornholm school of painters The Bornholm school of painters (''Bornholmerskolen'') started to take shape towards the beginning of the 20th century on the Danish island of Bornholm when a number of artists developed a distinctive style of classic modernism, inspired by the i ...

Biography

Lergaard was born at Vorup in

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).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 Dan ...

in Copenhagen. He subsequently taught at the Royal Academy (1917–20). He spent a few years in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, where he lived until 1928 and where he became interested in Norwegian landscape painting. In the late 1920s, he moved to the picturesque Danish 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 ...

where he joined the art colony known at the

(''Bornholmerskolen''). His paintings displayed the careful construction that characterized his work, for example in his landscapes of

Gudhjem Gudhjem is a small town and fishing port on the northern coast of the Baltic island of Bornholm, Denmark. Its population is 736 (1 January 2022). Gudhjem is a popular venue for tourists who are attracted by its steep, picturesque streets, views ...

. He painted the sea, with a high horizon, the coast, figures with precisely constructed silhouettes, or Bornholm’s steep cliffs. In the 1940s his art moved towards ever-increasing simplification. With strong violet and purple colors that dominate. The dark colours he used in the 1930s were gradually replaced by a lighter palette. He worked to release new expressive possibilities from oil colours and in this way further emphasized the luminous power and depth of the picture plane. Thus his landscapes display a deeply symbolic, transcendent power. From 1959 to 1964, Lergaard was a professor at the Royal Academy. In 1965 he 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lergaard, Niels 1893 births 1982 deaths 20th-century Danish painters Danish Impressionist painters Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Academic staff of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal People from Randers Municipality

Biography

See also

References