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The Skagen painter Christian Krohg (1852-1925) was a politically committed artist throughout his life, who critically dealt with social issues as a painter, author and journalist. The atmospheric picture scenes, from the lives of disadvantaged people, create an impression of immediate impact and tangible physicality.
After Christian Krohg was born near Oslo, he went to Germany in 1874 to study art. First to Karlsruhe at the Grand Ducal Badische Kunstschule, where he met the sculptor and painter Max Klinger, and then to the Berlin Academy. One of the most formative stages of his artistic development was his stay in Paris from 1881 -1882, where Krohg was impressed by the paintings of Édouard Manet. The Impressionist influences of that journey are essentially expressed in his later works, when, as a member of the artists' colony in Skagen, Denmark, he made the hard life of ordinary people his recurring motif. His once homogeneous colour palette has now become brighter and richer in contrast. Blues, reds and greens gave his painting more depth, his brushstrokes became broader and occasionally more impulsive. Thus, Krohgs painting Albertine i politilægens venteværelse depicts an event from his novel Albertine from 1886. That work, which tells of prostitution and bourgeois double standards, and which initially caused a scandal when it was confiscated. Now, however, Christian Krohg succeeded in arousing great enthusiasm among contemporary critics, which helped him to his breakthrough as a painter.
From 1890 to 1910 Christian Krogh worked as a journalist for the daily newspaper Verdens Gang, a political paper with the highest reach in Norway at the time. From 1909 he was professor at the State Academy of Art and later, until his death in 1925, director of the Academy. Christian Krogh was married to his former student, the painter Oda Krogh. The marriage produced two children, but only his son Per turned to art as a painter and book illustrator.
The Skagen painter Christian Krohg (1852-1925) was a politically committed artist throughout his life, who critically dealt with social issues as a painter, author and journalist. The atmospheric picture scenes, from the lives of disadvantaged people, create an impression of immediate impact and tangible physicality.
After Christian Krohg was born near Oslo, he went to Germany in 1874 to study art. First to Karlsruhe at the Grand Ducal Badische Kunstschule, where he met the sculptor and painter Max Klinger, and then to the Berlin Academy. One of the most formative stages of his artistic development was his stay in Paris from 1881 -1882, where Krohg was impressed by the paintings of Édouard Manet. The Impressionist influences of that journey are essentially expressed in his later works, when, as a member of the artists' colony in Skagen, Denmark, he made the hard life of ordinary people his recurring motif. His once homogeneous colour palette has now become brighter and richer in contrast. Blues, reds and greens gave his painting more depth, his brushstrokes became broader and occasionally more impulsive. Thus, Krohgs painting Albertine i politilægens venteværelse depicts an event from his novel Albertine from 1886. That work, which tells of prostitution and bourgeois double standards, and which initially caused a scandal when it was confiscated. Now, however, Christian Krohg succeeded in arousing great enthusiasm among contemporary critics, which helped him to his breakthrough as a painter.
From 1890 to 1910 Christian Krogh worked as a journalist for the daily newspaper Verdens Gang, a political paper with the highest reach in Norway at the time. From 1909 he was professor at the State Academy of Art and later, until his death in 1925, director of the Academy. Christian Krogh was married to his former student, the painter Oda Krogh. The marriage produced two children, but only his son Per turned to art as a painter and book illustrator.