Summer evening on Skagen's Southern Beach

The painting itself was inspired by a walk along the beach by Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer after a dinner party at the Krøyers' home in the summer of 1892 when the guests had gone down to the shore to enjoy the pleasant evening. In 1990, an exhibition by the Hirschsprung Collection revealed that the painting had in fact been based on photographs of the two ladies taken by Krøyer. Until then, no one had imagined it was related to the artist's interest in photography. After painting four preparatory works, Krøyer completed the full-size work in September 1893. In a letter to the writer Sophus Schandorph and his wife, who had been guests at the dinner party, he explained: "After I had painted studies of various kinds for it for about a month, one beautiful morning I started to paint up on the canvas and on the evening of the fourth day the picture was as it stands." The painter Anna Ancher and the artist's wife were strolling on Skagen's Southern Beach during the blue hour, when the horizon is almost dissolved in the evening mist and dispersed blue light, reflected in the sea. Krøyer described the time of the evening when the two sources of natural light could be captured together as a particular favourite. Krøyer's style was influenced by the Impressionist movement during his travels to France, although he developed a style of his own. In Denmark he gained a reputation particularly for his beach scenes, for his paintings of the fishermen, and lively gatherings of the artists. Summer evening on Skagen's Southern Beach has come to be one of Kroyers most beloved paintings.