Press release -
Krøyer’s Final Masterpiece Sold for DKK 4.3 Million
The first international auction at Bruun Rasmussen in Bredgade was kicked off in style on Tuesday! A study for P.S. Krøyer’ final masterpiece, the iconic “Midsummer Eve Bonfire on Skagen Beach” (1903), was sold for DKK 4.3 million (€ 754,000 including buyer’s premium) and a classic Danish Golden Age painting by C.V. Eckersberg from Rome (1819) was sold to the art museum ARoS for DKK 1.5 million (€ 260,000 including buyer’s premium).
"The study by P.S. Krøyer is a masterpiece in itself, and at the same time one of the last truly successful works painted by the artist, who at the time was plagued by illness. It is an impressive and very well deserved hammer price for a masterful painting by one of the truly great figures in the history of Danish art," says Julie Arendse Voss, head of the department of fine art at Bruun Rasmussen.
The study is a clear example of Krøyer’s impressive artistic talent – especially the speed with which he worked and his spontaneity, which can be seen in the moments captured around the bonfire. The painting process went so quickly that sand from the beach ended up ingrained in a thin layer on parts of the canvas. The rapid and sketch-like brushstrokes add a freshness to the study. It gives the work a special intensity and vividness that is not quite as pronounced in the finished work on display at Skagen Museum.
Eckersberg to ARoS
Artwork from the Danish Golden Age is in high demand these days. Tuesday's second highest hammer price went to a painting from Rome by Eckersberg, which was acquired by the ARoS art museum in Aarhus. The artist spent long periods in Rome, where he painted the beautiful views of the Tiber from Trastevere in the newly sold piece depicting the "Castel St. Angelo."
The landscape painter Fritz Petzholdt (1805-38) is perhaps not as well known, but he was, like most other Danish Golden Age artists, a student of Eckersberg. He was also inspired by the Italian motifs, as seen in the painting "View from the Villa d'Este at Tivoli" from 1834, which was sold for DKK 480,000(€ 84,000 including buyer’s premium). This is a world record for a work by Petzholdt.
Regarding Ring
Today's auction also featured a fine collection of works by L.A. Ring, which was sold at fine prices as well. The highest hammer price was achieved by a winter landscape from 1915, which was sold for DKK 220,000 (€ 38,500 including buyer’s premium) against an estimate of DKK 75,000 to 125,000 (€ 10,000 to 17,000).
Museum Purchases
Several museums were in a shopping mood at Tuesday’s auction. In addition to ARoS the following museums can also add new works to their permanent collections: The Hirschsprung Collection, Amager Museum, Johannes Larsen Museum in Kerteminde and the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.
Topics
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is one of Scandinavia’s leading international auction houses, and one of Denmark’s oldest. It all started on 6 October 1948, when Arne Bruun Rasmussen conducted the first traditional auction in the saleroom at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. Today, Jesper Bruun Rasmussen stands at the helm of the family-run business together with the third generation of the family, his son Frederik and daughter Alexa, and the company’s CEO Jakob Dupont.
In 2004, the first online auction was launched, and today the auction house has expanded to include departments in Copenhagen and Aarhus and representations in Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Thailand and the US. About 100,000 lots are put up for auction each year at the traditional auctions and daily online auctions. Here you can bid on everything from art, antiques, modern design and jewellery to books, coins, stamps, wine and weaponry.
