Laurits Tuxen
(1853-1927)
Laurits Tuxen (1854-1927) was a Danish painter and sculptor who specialised in figural work. He was particularly associated with the Skagen Painters and was the first head of their art school, the ‘Kunstnernes Frie Studieskoler’, which was established in the 1880’s as an alternative to the rigid and academic programme offered to artists at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Born in Copenhagen, Tuxen studied at the Royal Danish Academy, where he had originally wanted to become a marine painter. However considered to be one of the academy’s finest painters alongside P.S. Krøyer, he was persuaded to take up figure painting. He first visited Skagen in 1870 and returned on several occasions during the 1870’s to paint. During the 1880’s and 1890’s, Tuxen travelled widely painting portraits for Europe’s royal families including Christian IX of Denmark, Queen Victoria and a number of Russian royalties. In 1901 following the death of his first wife, Tuxen married a Norwegian and together they purchased a house in the artist’s colony at Skagen, converting it into a summer residence.
Tuxen went on to paint a number of landscapes in and around Skagen, but also completed several intimate portraits of his family and friends, as well as sea landscapes and garden flowers. He also took a vivid interest in the foundation of the Skagens Museum.