Artwork
The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan
The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan is an oil painting by Laurits Andersen Ring. It dates from 1911 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
She holds an umbrella, a recurring motif in Ring's depictions of her and a detail that anchors the figure within the coastal environment.
The painting portrays the artist's wife, Sigrid Kähler, situated within a dune landscape populated by lyme grass (Leymus arenarius). She holds an umbrella, a recurring motif in Ring's depictions of her and a detail that anchors the figure within the coastal environment. The combination of figure, umbrella, shifting sand, and marram-like vegetation signals Ring's characteristic interest in solitary human presence within austere Danish coastal scenery, using the caravan setting to frame his wife as part of a transient, windswept natural world rather than a domestic interior.
Technique & Style
Laurits Andersen Ring executed The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan in 1911 using oil paint on a canvas support. The work measures 39.9 cm in height and 60.2 cm in width. As a painting classified within the artist's oeuvre, the piece depicts Sigrid Kähler holding an umbrella amidst a dune landscape featuring Leymus arenarius.
The medium and support are consistent with the artist's practice during this period, resulting in a finished painting held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
History & Provenance
Laurits Andersen Ring painted The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan in 1911, depicting his wife Sigrid Kähler alongside an umbrella and the dune plant Leymus arenarius. The work was created using oil on canvas and measures 39.9 cm by 60.2 cm. It entered the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it remains on display. The painting was completed in 1911 and has been part of the museum's holdings since its acquisition.
The Artist's Wife with the Family Caravan is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. The painting, created by Laurits Andersen Ring in 1911, is part of the museum's permanent holdings of oil on canvas works. While the specific inventory or accession number is not provided in the available records, the work is consistently attributed to this institution as its current location. No specific exhibition history is documented in the provided sources.
Overview
Laurits Andersen Ring’s 1911 oil painting, The Artist’s Wife with the Family Caravan, portrays his spouse, Sigrid Kähler, in a coastal dune setting. The composition centers on the seated figure beneath a light‑colored umbrella, with a modest pale‑blue structure and dense shoreline vegetation framing the scene. The work belongs to Denmark’s Statens Museum for Kunst collection.
Context
At the time of its execution, Ring was integrating Symbolist sensibilities with a growing interest in the lives of ordinary people. The work reflects his personal connection to the subject, his wife, while also situating her within the broader Danish coastal environment that featured prominently in his later oeuvre.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Laurits Andersen Ring (Danish pronunciation:; 15 August 1854 – 10 September 1933) was one of the foremost Danish painters of the turn of the 20th century, who pioneered both symbolism and social realism in Denmark.
