Coastal Landscape (1882)

Christensen, Polycarpus Godfred Benjamin (1845 - 1928)

Coastal Landscape

Oil on Canvas: 16" x 24"
Catalog# CHRG-001

A lone figure, carrying perhaps a fishing line, walks toward the shore where two sailboats are beached and tethered to a post in the sand (the third tethered in the water). It is early afternoon as the risen sun casts its last angled shadows before high noon. The waters are lightly chopping while the seagulls glide atop the current of the winds. Billowing clouds complete the dimension in the upper half of the composition that is accomplished in the lower by the full, diverse vegetation. The tall, thick greenery is scaled by the figure and curved shore.

Christensen’s impressionist use of light and form is fused well with the naturalist landscape.

Godfred Christensen began painting from a very early age and archived such talent that he became accepted at the Royal Art Academy on 1860 when he was only 15. During his years at the Academy he vigilantly studied painting, particularly forest sceneries, and tried to combine early French Impressionism with Danish Naturalism. Christensen was also a pupil of the Danish master painter F.C. Kiærskou. In 1869 Christensen traveled to Paris where he met many of the French artists of the school of “Fontainebleau” and became highly inspired by their painting techniques. Later that year he traveled to Rome and met the Belgium artist Xavier de Monthier and Italian artist Enrico Nardini. The French art influenced Christensen the most and he continued working on translating the French painting methods into the Danish golden age. Today the works of Godfred Christensen are considered one of the major art links between the 19th and 20th century.

Education:

  • 1860: Pupil of the Danish master painter F.C Kiearskou.
  • Attended the Royal art academy in Copenhagen.
  • 1887: Took classes in models.

Exhibitions:

  • Denmark:
    • Charlottenborg: 1862-1929
    • Painters of Vejle : 1978
    • The museum of art: 1981
    • The Union of artists: 1894-1905.
  • Abroad:
    • 1878: The world fair in Paris
    • 1882: International Kunst-Ausst, in wiener.
    • 1891: International Kunst-Ausst, in Berlin.
    • 1907: Works by Danish artists, London.
    • 1914: The Baltic exhibition in Malmo, Sweden.
    • 1917: Danish National Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum.

Travels abroad:

  • 1869: Paris, Switzerland and lübeck.
  • 1873-75: stayed in France.
  • 1878: Germany.