26 ArtistSkagen
From the 1870s artists began to
flock to Skagen in northern Jutland- a place so remote they needed a
rowing boat to reach it. In low tide,
local fishermen waded out to the
boats to carry the radical artists and
truth seekers ashore. As poet Holger
Drachmann declared, they wanted
to return “to nature, to the naïve,
the original, the uncomplicated!” In
short, they were looking for Eden.
They came to Skagen and paint-
ed the lives of the fishermen and
their families. It was a new concept
then, to paint ordinary people, as
opposed to elevated and mytholog-
ical beings. They were drawn too, by
the raw beauty of the Scandinavian
coastline, where on summer nights
the sky and sea blended together in
a haze known as The Blue Hour. An
El Dorado for artists, Skagen soon
became home to a colony of paint-
ers. When the artists weren’t paint-
ing - they were drinking champagne,
holding masquerades, having love
affairs, and discussing art in Brøn-
dums Hotel.Skagen
From the 1870s artists began to
flock to Skagen in northern Jutland
- a place so remote they needed a
rowing boat to reach it. In low tide,
local fishermen waded out to the
boats to carry the radical artists and
truth seekers ashore. As poet Holger
Drachmann declared, they wanted
to return “to nature, to the naïve,
the original, the uncomplicated!” In
short, they were looking for Eden.
They came to Skagen and paint-
ed the lives of the fishermen and
their families. It was a new concept
then, to paint ordinary people, as
opposed to elevated and mytholog-
ical beings. They were drawn too, by
the raw beauty of the Scandinavian
coastline, where on summer nights
the sky and sea blended together in
a haze known as The Blue Hour. An
El Dorado for artists, Skagen soon
became home to a colony of paint-
ers. When the artists weren’t paint-
ing - they were drinking champagne,
holding masquerades, having love
affairs, and discussing art in Brøn-
dums Hotel.