Artwork
Danish Landscape
Danish Landscape is an oil painting by the Symbolist artist Harald Slott-Møller. It dates from 1896 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The work titled Danish Landscape by Harald Slott-Møller, painted in 1896, presents a rural vista that includes a field of cereal, a white stork, an expansive sky and accompanying clouds.
The composition foregrounds agricultural activity through the depiction of cereal, while the white stork functions as a characteristic element of the Danish natural scene, together contributing to a portrayal of the country's open countryside.
As a landscape painting within the genre, the piece reflects an interest in recording the everyday environment of Denmark, using the visible elements of field, bird, sky and cloud to convey the character of the national terrain.
Technique & Style
The work titled Danish Landscape, painted by Harald Slott-Møller in 1896, is executed on a gypsum support using a combination of gypsum ground and oil paint, a technique typical of late-nineteenth-century Danish painting. Measuring 43 cm by 72.5 cm, the surface accommodates a composition that features cereal stalks, a white stork, an expansive sky and drifting clouds, emphasizing naturalistic detail and atmospheric light. The painting belongs to the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen and was included in the exhibition The Mirror of Nature: Nordic Landscape Painting 1840–1910, underscoring its significance within the Nordic landscape genre.
History & Provenance
The piece entered the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, where it remains on display as part of the museum's permanent holdings.
Danish Landscape is a painting by Harald Slott-Møller completed in 1896. The work is executed in gypsum with oil paint and measures 43 cm by 72.5 cm. It belongs to the landscape genre and depicts a cereal field, a white stork, sky and clouds. The piece entered the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, where it remains on display as part of the museum's permanent holdings.
It was shown in the exhibition "The Mirror of Nature: Nordic Landscape Painting 1840–1910," which highlighted Nordic landscape art from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century.
Overview
Created in 1896, Danish Landscape is a gypsum work by Harald Slott‑Møller, a Danish painter and ceramist active from the late 19th to early 20th century. The piece belongs to the Symbolist tendency and is part of the Statens Museum for Kunst collection. Its composition centers on a cultivated field beneath a clear sky, punctuated by a solitary bird in flight.
Context
The work emerges from the Symbolist movement, which favored evocative imagery over strict realism. In the late 19th century, Danish artists were exploring national identity through rural motifs; Slott‑Møller’s focus on a wheat field and stork aligns with this trend, while his use of gypsum marks a departure from conventional oil painting, highlighting experimental material practices of the period.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Harald Slott-Møller (Danish:; 17 August 1864 – 20 October 1937) was a Danish painter and ceramist. Together with his wife, the painter Agnes Slott-Møller, he was a founding member of Den Frie Udstilling (The Free Exhibition).
