Skagens Museum

In the 1870s and 1880s a group of painters settled in what was then a poor fishing town at the top of Jutland, drawn by the light off two seas and by cheap lodgings. Skagens Museum holds the largest collection of their work: P. S. Kroyer's blue evening beach scenes, Anna Ancher's interiors with a woman and a shaft of sunlight, Michael Ancher's fishermen. Much of it was painted within a few hundred metres of where it now hangs, which makes the walk to the beach afterwards part of the visit. The building was extended in 2016 and hangs the collection in daylight.

History

Skagens Museum was founded on 20 October 1908 in the dining room of Brøndums Hotel, the long-time meeting place of the artists' colony; its first board included the painters Michael Ancher, P. S. Krøyer and Laurits Tuxen, the local pharmacist Victor Christian Klæbel and the hotel's owner Degn Brøndum, Anna Ancher's brother, and its aim was to collect works by the Skagen Painters and raise money for a building. The first exhibitions were held in the local technical school, and after Krøyer's death in 1909 his house in Skagen Plantation served as a temporary venue. In 1919 Degn Brøndum gave the old hotel garden for a purpose-built museum, designed by Ulrik Plesner, himself part of the Skagen circle, and paid for by private donors and foundations, chief among them Brøndum, Tuxen and the Ny Carlsberg Foundation; building began in 1926 and the museum opened on 22 September 1928. An annex by Jacob Blegvad followed in 1982 and a further extension in 1989 (Wikipedia, Skagens Museum).

Highlights

• Kroyer's beach paintings - the blue evening scenes painted on the strand here.
• Anna Ancher's interiors - small rooms, plain walls and light through a window.
• Michael Ancher's fishermen - the working town before the painters made it famous.
• The artists' houses - Anchers Hus and Drachmann's house, preserved a short walk away.

When to go

May to September for the light and for full opening; the museum keeps reduced hours in winter and the town largely shuts down. July and early August are extremely busy, since Skagen is a Danish holiday town as well as an art destination. Late afternoon empties out as people head for the beach.

Practical notes

Skagen is a long way from anywhere: several hours by train from Copenhagen and a good drive from Aarhus. Summer prices in the town are high and accommodation books out months ahead. The collection is narrow by design, one movement over a few decades, and if the paintings do not move you there is little else inside.

Nearby

The Anchers' house and Drachmann's house are minutes away; the sandbar at Grenen is a short drive north.

Key facts