P. C. SKOVGAARD (1817-1875)
Sommerspiret (120 m-393 ft)
Denmark
In Udsigt over havet fra Møens Klint, 1850, oil on canvas, Danish Royal Academy
The cliff
Sommerspiret (120 m - 393 ft) is one of the chalk cliffs forming Møns Klint, a 6 km stretch of cliffs along the eastern coast of the Danish island of Møn in the Baltic Sea. Some of the cliffs fall a sheer 120 m to the sea below. The highest cliff is Dronningestolen (128 m- 420 ft). The area around Møns Klint consists of woodlands, pastures, ponds and steep hills, including Aborrebjerg which, with a height of 143 m - 469ft), is one of the highest points in Denmark. The cliffs and adjacent park are now protected as a nature reserve. Møns Klint receives around 250,000 visitors a year. There are clearly marked paths for walkers, riders and cyclists. The path along the cliff tops leads to steps down to the shore in several locations.
On 29 May 2007, close to the cliff tops, the GeoCenter Møns Klint was opened by Queen Margrethe. The geological museum with interactive computer displays and a variety of attractions for children traces the geological prehistory of Denmark and the formation of the chalk cliffs. The museum was designed by PLH Architects, the winners of an international design competition.
Møns Klint has been a most popular subject for landscape painters, especially during the Danish Golden Age when the national romanticism movement encouraged artists to take renewed interest in the Danish countryside.
The painter
Peter Christian Thamsen Skovgaard (known as P.C. Skovgaard; 4 April 1817 – 13 April 1875) was a Danish national romantic landscape painter. He is one of the main figures associated with the Golden Age of Danish Painting. Skovgaard is primarily known for his landscape paintings, and for the special role he played in portraying Denmark's nature; not the spectacular but the ordinary and typical. He helped develop a unique Danish art form and sensibility. He had a deep sympathy for the Danish landscape and its uniqueness, especially Denmark's beloved beech forests. Animal life and locals that belonged to the land populated these landscapes. He studied nature diligently, and tried to portray it faithfully, yet ideally, and with a love of his country. He was a master of composition, and in his later works he developed an increasing interest in portraying atmosphere and light. The scale of his paintings was a breakthrough in Danish art.
He is considered one of the leading landscape painters of the 1800s.
His art production and academic career had a large influence on landscape painting's future in Denmark.
His work has been shown both in Denmark and internationally in numerous exhibitions of Danish art including exhibitions in London (1907, 1948), Paris (1928, 1984–1985), New York City (1960–1961, 1964), and Rome (1974).
The Skovgaard Museum in Viborg is dedicated to the artistic production of the entire Skovgaard family. A number of paintings by P.C. Skovgaard are in the museum's collection.
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2020 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
