Gustav Vermehren (1863-1931) A Vegetable Garden In Denmark

Gustav VERMEHREN
(Copenhagen 1863 – Copenhagen 1931)
The vegetable garden
Oil on canvas
H. 33 cm; L. 45 cm
Signed lower left, dated (19)22

Gustav Vermehren was born into a creative family and very quickly opted for an artistic destiny. His father, Frederik (1823-1910) was an accomplished painter, noted for his idealized rural scenes that romanticized the working classes. As a child, Gustav learned the basics of painting from his father, which was surely the catalyst for his formal education. It is interesting to note that throughout his career he remained faithful to the paternal style, nevertheless using a wider, less smooth fingerboard. Faced with the new, freer approach of the French Impressionists, he retained his own ideals, not wishing to opt for contemporary stylistic currents. At the end of the 19th century, it became fashionable to adopt a looser brushstroke and to flood the canvases with light and bright colors. Yet Gustav, and his younger brother Sophus (1866-1950), remained true to their father's ideals. His apprenticeship continued at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1881, and his first paintings were sent to the Charlottenborg Salon in 1888. During his career, he was also curator of the royal artistic collections and art critic.

Our composition comes from a large artistic part of Vermehren. The bucolic and "ethnic" views of Denmark are commonplace with him, leaving the spotlight to thatched roofs, soft light and peasants organizing their lives in this context. Our man, in working clothes, takes care of his vegetable garden protected from the chicken coop by a fence. The tight framing on the stage gives the viewer a sense of immersion in this sunny Danish day.