NIELS HOLSØE
(Copenhagen 1865 – 1928 Charlottenlund)
Sunshine (Solskin)
Signed and dated, lower left: Niels Holsøe 1905
Oil on canvas
24 x 29 ½ inches (61 x 74.9 cm)
Provenance:
with Omell Galleries, London, 1985; where acquired by:
Private Collection, Connecticut
Exhibited:
Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, 1905.
“An Exhibition of Russian and Scandinavian Paintings,” Omell Galleries, London, 1985, no. 8.
On the heels of the stylistic revolution of the Danish Golden Age, painters in Denmark in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries focused increasingly on the depiction of domestic interior scenes. The greatest proponents of this genre were Carl Holsøe and his friend Vilhelm Hammershøi. Both artists had a profound influence on each other’s works, and it remains unclear who was the first to paint interiors. While Hammershøi gained international acclaim for the sober and muted settings of his modernist paintings, Holsøe’s domestic works were comparably direct and even naturalistic in their presentation of tranquil Danish interiors. Indoor scenes were the dominant subject of Carl Holsøe’s artistic output, as well as that of his younger brother Niels, the author of the present painting.
Fig. 1. Carl Vilhelm Holsøe, The Artist’s Wife Sitting at a Window in a Sunlit Room, oil on canvas, formerly art market, New York.
Working in the wake of his elder brother, Niels similarly specialized in the depiction of interiors. He was a pupil of Hans Tegner and studied at the Copenhagen Academy from 1884–1891. He received a scholarship to study in Italy in 1905, and later embarked on study trips to Germany, Holland, and France. Although he never eclipsed the fame of his brother, Niels was an accomplished painter and contributed 21 paintings to exhibitions at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg, including this work.
Our painting is a characteristic example of Niels’ early career, dating before his travels to Italy and revealing the influence of his brother, Carl (Fig. 1). The lovely interior is decorated with numerous paintings hung on the wall and several flowering plants with lush red and white flowers. As indicated by its title, Sunshine, the focus of the painting is the flood of natural light that pours through the windows, illuminating the space. In addition to lending a warm atmosphere to the room, the light draws the viewer eye across the room as it reflects brightly off the furniture, the glass of the picture frames, the white curtains, and the floorboards in the left foreground.