PEDER SEVERIN KROYER 1851-1909 Stavanger, Norway 2

On a trip to Paris in 1888 he encountered Marie Martha Mathilde Triepcke, whom he had known in Copenhagen. They fell in love and, after a whirlwind romance, married on 23 July 1889 at her parents' home in Germany. Marie Krøyer, who was also a painter, became associated with the Skagen community, and after their marriage was often featured in Krøyer's paintings. The couple had one child, a daughter named Vibeke, born in January 1895. They were divorced in 1905 following a prolonged separation.
Krøyer's eyesight failed him gradually over the last ten years of his life until he was totally blind. Ever the optimist, he painted almost to the end, in spite of health obstacles. In fact, he painted some of his last masterpieces while half-blind, joking that the eyesight in his one working eye had become better with the loss of the other eye.
Krøyer died in 1909 in Skagen at 58 years of age after years of declining health. He had also been in and out of hospitals, suffering from bouts of mental illness.
Krøyer's best known and best-loved work is entitled Summer Evening on Skagen's Southern Beach with Anna Ancher and Marie Krøyer (Sommeraften ved Skagen Sønderstrand med Anna Ancher og Marie Krøyer), 1893. He painted many beach scenes featuring both recreation life on the beach (bathers, strollers), and local fishermen.
Another popular work is Midsummer Eve Bonfire on Skagen Beach (Sankthansbål på Skagen strand), 1906. This large-scale work features a great crowd of the artistic and influential Skagen community gathered around a large bonfire on the beach on Saint John's Eve (Midsummer Eve).
Both of these works are in the permanent collection of the Skagens Museum which is dedicated to that community of artists, including those who gathered around Krøyer, a great organizer and bon vivant.





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