Skagen on the screens

Skagen, themselves and each other in a violent symbiosis of creativity and competition in the years around 1900.

With Anna and Michael Anker, Marie and P. S. Krøyer, Drachmann and Laurits Tuxen as some of the big names, Skagen really became known as an artist colony. Most of them are immortalised in P. S. Krøyer's last, large painting "Sankt Hansblus på Skagen Strand" from 1906.

And many of the Skagen painters' works can still be seen in Skagen, where the Skagen Art Museums, which house three collections, are well worth a visit. Both the Skagen Museum on Brøndumsvej and the two smaller places Anchers Hus and Drachmanns Hus are of great value to those interested in art and history.

Both houses have been restored and maintained, of course, and they give you a first-hand impression of the artists who made their homes there. You get a sense of the person behind the artist, so to speak.

The same is true of some of the films that have also been made about the artists at Skagen. "Marie Krøyer" gives a strong impression of the problematic marriage between Marie and P.S. Krøyer - they were married, but they were also competitors and P.S. suffered increasingly from illness. The film by Bille August was of course partly shot in Sweden.

A number of other Skagen artists have been immortalised, portrayed and analysed in books and on film. The artistic production of a group of highly talented painters gathered under the lights of Skagen around 1900 remains a source of admiration and fascination, and as a visitor to Skagen you can still get up close to their works and lives.

Photo: Skagen Art Museums