Frits Thaulow

FRITS THAULOW (Norway, 1847 - The Netherlands, 1906)
"Christmas market".
Oil on canvas.
Signed in the lower right corner.
Presents some patch on the back.
Measurements: 66 x 104 cm; 86 x 124 cm (frame).

Frits Thaulow was one of the most outstanding members of the Norwegian impressionist school. He was especially known for his landscapes, of great naturalism, as well as his urban scenes. The one presented here is a hibernal view of a central European square where one of the characteristic Christmas markets is taking place. The evening lights dissipate in the cloudy sky while the glimmers of the stalls and the windows of the buildings warn us of the end of the day. The Norwegian artist often introduces water surfaces (such as rivers or canals) into his compositions. On this occasion the rainwater dissipates in the streets creating a silvery play of reflections. Some pedestrians in the purest Pissarro style walk through the streets.

Born into a wealthy family, Frits Thaulow was educated in Denmark and Germany, studying at the Academy of Arts in Copenhagen between 1870 and 1870 and at the Baden School of Art in Karlsruhe with the Norwegian Hans Gude between 1873 and 1875. Thaulow was one of the first artists to paint the landscapes of Skagen, in the north of Jutland (Denmark), a region around which a school known as the Skagen Painters was formed shortly after. He arrived in the area in 1879 with his friend Christian Krohg, and together they traveled on the painter's own ship. Thaulow, who until then had specialized in painting seascapes, would from then on focus on capturing the Skagen landscape, its fishermen and their boats stranded on the shore. He will return to Norway in 1880, where he will become one of the main representatives of the Norwegian painting scene along with Krohg and Erik Werenskiold, and participated in the organization of the first National Art Exhibition in 1882. In his native country he especially preferred the landscapes of Åsgårdstrand, an important artistic center from the 1880s onwards.
In 1892 he moved to France, where he spent the rest of his life, although he died in the town of Volendam, in Holland. However, Thaulow was not interested in the urban landscapes of Paris, but turned his gaze to the rural environments of towns such as Montreuil-sur-Mer (1892-94), Dieppe (1894-98), Quimperle in Brittany (1901) and Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne (1903). Throughout his career, Thaulow was recognized with various honors, including the appointment of Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1905. He also received the French Legion of Honor, the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus in Italy and the Order of Nichan Iftikhar in Tunisia. Thaulow is currently represented in outstanding collections such as the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Orsay Museum in Paris, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Royal Museums of Belgium and the National Galleries of Norway, Denmark and Finland, among others.