1810 -1848 · Danish Golden Age, intimate Copenhagen and light of everyday life

Frank portraits, silent streets, familiar gardens and crystal-clear light make Christen Købke one of the most sensitive looks of the Danish Golden Age.

Christen Schjellerup Købke was born in Copenhagen in 1810. He entered the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts at a very young age, where he first followed Christian August Lorentzen then Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. From the latter, he retains direct observation, rigorous construction and exact study of light. Købke, however, seeks neither the great spectacle nor the heroic subject. His most personal motifs are near his home: Citadel walls, streets of Østerbro, Sortedam Lake, family courtyard, gate, garden staircase or the face of a loved one. In 1833, his family settled in Blegdammen, then on the rural margins of Copenhagen. For almost a decade, this environment becomes a laboratory. The painter returns to the same paths depending on the time, transforms a pump, a tree or a facade into luminous architecture and composes from numerous studies. His portraits of brothers, sisters, friends and artists refuse emphasis. The background remains simple, the gaze precise and psychology is born from small differences in posture or color. Portrait of Frederik Sødring shows this proximity between observation and friendship. In urban scenes, Købke combines daily life and monumentality. In urban scenes, Købke combines daily life and monumentality. In urban scenes, Købke combines daily life and monumentality. A morning street, fish sellers, walkers and cows become the subject of a large painting dominated by the sky. Between 1838 and 1840, he traveled in Italy and works in particular in Capri. His studies then gained freedom, with bolder framing and faster material. Back in Copenhagen, this experience transformed his small domestic motifs without erasing their calm. Despite his talent, Købke obtained little official recognition during his lifetime and failed to enter the Academy as a member. He died prematurely in 1848, at the age of thirty-seven. Rediscovered later, he is today considered one of the great Danish painters. He died prematurely in 1848, at the age of thirty-seven. Rediscovered later, he is today considered one of the great Danish painters. He died prematurely in 1848, at the age of thirty-seven. Rediscovered later, he is today considered one of the great Danish painters. He died prematurely in 1848, at the age of thirty-seven. Rediscovered later, he is today considered one of the great Danish painters. He died prematurely in 1848, at the age of thirty-seven. Rediscovered later, he is today considered one of the great Danish painters. He died prematurely in 1848, at the age of thirty-seven. Rediscovered later, he is today considered one of the great Danish painters. He died prematurely in Købke' notably compares Portrait of Frederik Sødring and View of Strandvejen near Emiliekilde. His reading favors composition.

Købke does not enlarge the world with the subject: he enlarges it with attention to a familiar door, face, tree or morning.