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Born in Norway to an unknown father and a mentally disturbed mother, Krøyer had a difficult childhood. Precocious and talented, he was adopted by his maternal aunt and graduated from the Copenhagen Fine Arts School. He soon began to travel around Europe and found himself in Paris in 1887.
Fascinated by the impressionists, he got closer to the naturalist movement and fell in love with Marie Triepcke.
The couple is united by heart but also by painting. His wife poses for him in several of his canvases but they also play on their pictorial complicity in a double portrait where each one paints the other in his own style.
Considered as a painter of joy, childhood and friendship, Krøyer liked to put his characters in the frame of this wild nature, these dune landscapes of Denmark. He depicted scenes from the lives of workers, peasants and fishermen.These paintings immortalize the enthusiasm of children’s bathing in the flavor of sand and salt in perfect union with the sky and the sea. He often painted his daughter Vibeke with the children of his friends.
Peder Severin Krøyer Holger Drachmann 1895 Oil on canvas 167 x 140 cm Skagen, Skagen Kunstmuseer © Art Museums of Skagen