Peder Severin Krøyer (sometimes Peter or just P.S. Krøyer) was born in Norway but moved to Denmark with his foster parents at an early age.
He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art, traveled Europe and studied in Paris, where he was introduced to the work of the French Impressionists, an influence that resonates in his open, painterly, color-filled later work.
When he returned to Denmark he spent time painting in a remote fishing village called Skagen, and began to divide his time between Skagen and a studio in Copenhagen. Kroyer became the unofficial leader of an arts colony that sprang up in Skagen, and you will find reference to the group as the Skagen Painters. The Skagens Museum is dedicated to the group.
There is currently an exhibition, Krøyer; an international perspective at the Hirschprung Collection in Copenhagen where it will be on view until 10 April, 2012. After that it moves to the Skagens Museum where it will be on view from 5 April to 2 September, 2012.
There are scattered sources for Krøyer’s work in the web. Two of the best are Michael Hirsh’s Painters I should Have Known About (004) Peter Krøyer on his always superb Articles And Texticles blog, which also has some images of Skagen; and an article on a blog titled ensuciando las paredes.
Like the painting by John Atkinson Grimshaw that I mentioned in my recent post on that artist, Krøyer’s painting Interior of a Tavern (images above, third down) is one I love to revisit when at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
[Addendum: Though I didn’t see it on the Hirschsprung site, there is a catalog for the exhibition available from the Skagens museum. (Thanks to Ron Washington)]
