Danish realism, international portrait and naturalist light · 1847 -1926

A major portraitist in Denmark, Bertha Wegmann combines Munich training, Parisian lighting and intimate attention to models in a career that crosses the barriers imposed on women artists.

Bertha Wegmann was born in Soglio, Switzerland in 1847 and died in Copenhagen in 1926. Her family moved to Denmark as a child. Encouraged by her father, she received private lessons before leaving for Munich in 1867, ordinary academic paths remaining largely closed to women. She studied there with Wilhelm von Lindenschmit the Younger and became closely linked to the painter Jeanna Bauck. Their friendship, their shared workshops and the portraits they produced of each other constituted an important chapter in the history of women artists. In 1879, Wegmann went to Paris with Bauck and worked closely with the painter Jeanna Bauck. Their friendship, their shared workshops and the portraits they produced of each other constituted an important chapter in the history of women artists. In 1879, Wegmann went to Paris with Bauck and worked in an environment marked by naturalism and Salon painting. His Portrait of artist Jeanna Bauck receives honorable mention; the portrait of her sister Anna Seekamp won a medal at the Salon of 1882. Returning to Denmark with an international reputation, she became one of the most sought-after portrait painters in the country. Wegmann paints artists, writers, families and public figures, but also landscapes, flowers, interiors and genre scenes. Her portraits combine psychological observation, moving light and free matter without abandoning construction. She received the Thorvaldsen medal in 1883 and in 1887 became the first female member of the plenary assembly of the Royal Danish Academy. Her institutional role accompanies her commitment to opportunities offered to women. Faithful reproduction must retain transitions of light, the liveliness of the touch and the direct presence of the gaze. The "Bertha Wegmann" selection offers its own journey on this subject. His reading favors figures.

Wegmann does not separate resemblance and atmosphere: the person exists through his gaze, but also through the light, air and freedom of touch that surround him.