Station: [5] Christian Krohg: „Self-portrait, Painter in Seapiece“ (ca. 1917)

In Christian Krogh’s paintings we frequently encounter the sea and man fighting the forces of nature. In the 1880s, the Norwegian painter joined an artists’ colony which had settled in the small Danish fishing village of Skagen. The everyday working life of the fishermen living there fascinated Krogh in particular. In numerous paintings he depicted men battling water and wind out at sea.

Krohg wanted to please, touch, shock and captivate the viewer. To this end, he said, he painted situations which aroused such intense feelings in himself. The sea must have held a very special significance for the artist.  

Here we see a self-portrait of Christian Krogh. He seems to be surrounded by roaring water masses. But instead of appearing as a fisherman at work, the artist portrays himself as a creator of pictorial worlds. Isn’t it odd to paint yourself from the back for a self-portrait? This unusual perspective allows us to look over his shoulder and directly observe how, with brush and paint, he puts a small sailing ship in the endless, stormy sea.

It is almost as if we are watching god at work. Krohg determines the fate of the boat’s crew with his brushstrokes. His smock, moreover, looks like a long, white robe. And even the white beard and white hair — which can, in fact, be seen in old photographs of the artist — are evocative of corresponding religious imagery.