Artwork
The Iron Foundry, Burmeister and Wain
The Iron Foundry, Burmeister and Wain is an oil painting by the Realist artist Peder Severin Krøyer. It dates from 1869 and is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting portrays a scene of industrial labor, specifically focusing on the production of cast iron within the Burmeister and Wain foundry.
The painting portrays a scene of industrial labor, specifically focusing on the production of cast iron within the Burmeister and Wain foundry. As a work of genre art, it captures the everyday reality of the working class engaged in demanding physical toil. The depiction of the foundry environment and the workers emphasizes the grit and scale of 19th-century manufacturing.
By centering on the laborers and the cast iron they produce, the artwork represents the industrial era's reliance on human exertion, elevating the ordinary, arduous tasks of the working class into a subject of artistic significance.
Technique & Style
Executed in 1869, this work is an oil painting on canvas measuring 144 by 194 cm. The piece functions as a genre scene, visually documenting the industrial labor of the working class within a cast iron foundry. As a large-scale composition, it utilizes the medium of oil paint to render the specific atmospheric and material qualities of the factory environment at Burmeister and Wain.
History & Provenance
Peder Severin Krøyer created the oil painting The Iron Foundry, Burmeister and Wain in 1869. Executed on canvas, the work depicts scenes of the working class within a cast iron foundry environment. The painting entered the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst, where it remains housed.
No specific details regarding the original commission or intermediate ownership transfers prior to its acquisition by the museum are provided in the available records.
The Iron Foundry, Burmeister and Wain is held in the collection of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. The institution serves as both the owner and the physical location for the painting. While the work dates to 1869 and depicts scenes of the working class and cast iron production, the available records do not list a specific inventory or accession number for the piece. Furthermore, no information regarding its exhibition history is provided in the current documentation.
Overview
Peder Severin Krøyer’s 1869 oil painting titled The Iron Foundry, Burmeister and Wain captures a nocturnal industrial interior. Executed in the genre‑scene tradition, the work measures the interplay of light and labor within a bustling ironworks, and it is part of the collection of Denmark’s Statens Museum for Kunst.
Context
The piece documents the Burmeister & Wain iron foundry, a prominent Danish ship‑building and engineering firm of the period. By portraying the factory’s interior, Krøyer aligns with a broader European trend of realist artists documenting the rapid industrialization and its impact on laborers during the late 1800s.
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