Marie Krøyer

Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén (11 June 1867 – 25 May 1940) commonly known as Marie Krøyer, was a Danish painter. She is remembered principally as the wife of Peder Severin Krøyer, one of the most successful members of the artists' colony known as the Skagen Painters, which flourished at the end of the 19th century in the far north of Jutland. Marie was also a part of the small group of Danish painters in her own right. From an early age, Marie aspired to become an artist, and after training privately in Copenhagen she went to Paris to continue her studies. There she was educated in the principles of Naturalism, and was influenced greatly by the French Impressionists. It was there, in early 1889, that she met Krøyer, who immediately fell madly in love with her. Although he was sixteen years her senior, the couple married that summer and in 1891 settled in Skagen. Clearly inspired by Marie's beauty, Krøyer had ample opportunity to paint her portraits both indoors and outdoors, especially on the beach. Married life became more difficult as Krøyer experienced periods of mental illness from 1900, and Marie eventually began an affair with the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén who had also been taken by her beauty. The couple had a child, Marie divorced Krøyer and moved to Sweden with Alfvén. They married in 1912, but marital problems once again resulted in divorce. Marie was reluctant to paint after meeting Krøyer, whom she looked up to as a far more competent artist, and she is remembered more as the subject of some of his best-known paintings than for her own work, although several of her pictures have recently attracted renewed interest. She is now also recognized for her significant contributions to design and architecture.

Early life and education

Born in Frederiksberg, Marie was the daughter of Max Triepcke, the technical director at the J. H. Rubens Loomery, and his wife Minna Augusta Kindler, who had emigrated to Denmark from Germany in 1866. She enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class life growing up in the Triepcke home, along with her two brothers Wilhelm and Valdemar. A childhood schoolfriend, Ida Hirschsprung, brought Marie into social contact with Heinrich and Pauline Hirschsprung, Ida's aunt and uncle. Heinrich Hirschsprung, a prominent businessman who ran a successful tobacco manufacturing business, was a patron of the arts and had shown an early interest in P. S. Krøyer. As there were no public schools for female artists, Marie had the idea of saving on the expense of private tuition by gathering a group of other young aspiring women, renting a studio, and asking the best art teachers to come and give them occasional tips. Among the artists that sometimes stopped by were Laurits Tuxen and Marie's future husband, Peder Severin Krøyer, though Krøyer was dismissive of the "young lady painters" school. In June 1888, Marie became engaged to Robert Hirschsprung, the son of Heinrich and Pauline, but he was prone to fits of deep depression and appears to have broken off the engagement soon afterwards. In 1887, she paid her first brief visit to Skagen, but there are no records of works created by her on that occasion.

In December 1888, Marie went to Paris where, in the spring of 1889, she studied side by side with Anna Ancher at the Pierre Puvis de Chavannes atelier. Anna Ancher, a fellow Dane from Skagen in the north of Jutland, became a lifelong friend. Marie Krøyer also studied in the ateliers of Gustave Courtois and Alfred Philippe Roll, discovering Impressionism and Naturalism, which would strongly influence her own style of painting. Always keen to support better conditions for female artists, she was among the first to exhibit at Den Frie Udstilling (The Free Exhibition) in 1891, an alternative to the academy's Charlottenborg.

Marie also befriended the painters Harald Slott-Møller and his wife Agnes Rambusch. Agnes would contribute a lifetime of support and encouragement for Marie's artistic pursuits. Other friends with whom she maintained exhaustive correspondence include Georg Brandes, critic and scholar, whom she admired, and the poet Sophus Schandorf and his wife, who treated Marie like a daughter.

Paintings

thumb|Marie Krøyer: Self-portrait (1889)

While she was with Krøyer, Marie painted little; she considered her talent inferior and felt frustrated that she could not commit herself fully to art because she had accepted that her role was to be a housewife and mother, saying: "I sometimes think that the whole effort is in vain, we have far too much to overcome ... what significance does it really have if I paint, I shall never, never achieve anything really great ... I want to believe in our cause, even if at times it may be terribly difficult." By contrast, her friend Anna Ancher enjoyed a more positive relationship with her own husband; she was not concerned by domestic duties, and their artistic styles and motifs were so different that direct comparison was never a problem.

Although Marie Krøyer was recognized for her personal beauty during her lifetime, it was not until the death of her daughter Vibeke in 1986 that her talents as an artist were revealed. The paintings left by Vibeke, now in Skagens Museum, showed her mother was a fine painter who had possessed the unrealized potential to become one of Skagen's leading artists

Several works by Marie Krøyer are in the collection at Skagens Museum.

Decorative talents

Marie Krøyer was inspired by the Scottish designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh to design furniture. When she and her husband moved into the town clerk's house in Skagen Vesterby in 1895, she designed the furniture and the interiors,

She was also the architect behind Alfvénsgaard, the house she and Alfvén shared in Tällberg, Sweden. and is buried in Leksand cemetery in central Sweden, not far from Alfvéngaard. Her two daughters, Vibeke and Margita, are buried beside her. Hugo Alfvén's grave is also nearby while Krøyer is buried in Skagen.

Early life and education

Paintings

Decorative talents

See also

References

Sources

Literature

External links