Artwork
Seascape. Skagen
Seascape. Skagen is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Peder Severin Krøyer. It dates from 1892 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Technique & Style
Handling emphasizes luminous, broken brushwork to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere over the sea.
The work is painted in oil on canvas and measures 47.5 cm in height by 62 cm in width.
Handling emphasizes luminous, broken brushwork to capture the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere over the sea. Thin, fluid paint is layered wet-into-wet, conveying the shimmering surface of water and the translucency of sky. Subtle impasto accents define the crests of waves and the reflective sheen on the beach, while the horizon is rendered with softer, blended passages that dissolve into mist.
The composition is organized around broad horizontal bands, the sea, the middle ground of breaking waves, and the narrow strip of beach, anchored by a low horizon line that concentrates attention on the luminous sky and the dynamic movement of water.
History & Provenance
Seascape. Skagen (1882) was created by Peder Severin Krøyer as an oil painting on canvas, depicting a beach scene with waves and sea. It belongs to the marine genre and measures 47.5 cm by 62 cm. The work is part of the collection at Statens Museum for Kunst, where it has been exhibited in the show From Golden Age to Cobra: 150 years of Danish Art.
The painting Seascape. Skagen is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. While specific inventory or accession numbers are not provided in the available records, the work is confirmed as part of this institution's holdings.
The piece was included in the exhibition titled From Golden Age to Cobra: 150 years of Danish Art.
The artwork, created in 1882, depicts a marine scene featuring a beach, waves, and the sea, executed in oil on canvas.
Legacy
The painting has been featured in major retrospectives of Danish art, including the exhibition From Golden Age to Cobra: 150 years of Danish Art, highlighting its enduring presence in the national narrative. Its inclusion in the collection of Statens Museum for Kunst underscores its role as a representative work of the Skagen painters and marine art within Denmark's cultural heritage. The work continues to be cited in scholarship on Nordic impressionism and coastal genre scenes.
Overview
Created in 1892, this oil painting captures a stretch of shoreline at Skagen, showing the sea’s surface broken by a line of white, foaming waves that lap against the sand. A darker silhouette looms on the horizon, suggesting either a distant landform or a vessel, while the water itself is rendered in deep blue‑green tones.
Subject & Meaning
The work presents a straightforward marine scene, focusing on the interaction between water and shore. By emphasizing the rhythmic motion of the waves and the subtle contrast between light foam and darker depths, the composition evokes the ever‑changing character of the North Sea coast, a frequent source of inspiration for Danish painters of the period.
Artist & collection
