‘A desert between two roaring seas’ is how Hans Christian Andersen described Skagen, a small town on the northernmost tip of Denmark, when he visited in 1859. He was not alone in being drawn to the place’s isolation and natural beauty: soon after, a group formed in Skagen, made up of mostly Scandinavian artists such as Michael Ancher, who met his wife, Anna Ancher – a painter and Skagen local – while he was there. This show looks at the painters who sought refuge in Skagen and in two other sites in Europe renowned for their beauty and isolation: Capri, an island off the bay of Naples, and Monte Verità, Switzerland, which overlooks Lake Maggiore (30 October–31 January 2027). Highlights range from gritty paintings of fisherman in Denmark to a sunny, almost Fauvist view of Capri by Susanne Schwob and a luscious depiction of Italian workers by Peder Severin Krøyer, a Skagen painter who spent time on the Amalfi coast.
Find out more from the Kunstmuseum Bern’s website
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