[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0.2)” background_image=”https:\/\/johanneslarsenmuseet.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Syberg-Fritz-Den-foerste-sne-1905-Olie-66-x-89-SMK-Foto-Inferno-CD-123-scaled.jpg” background_blend=”multiply” custom_margin=”||-1px|||” custom_padding=”19px||224px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|-138px||||” custom_padding=”|0px||||” custom_css_main_element=”max-width: 340px;||font-weight: 700;|| letter-spacing: -.2px;|| font-size: 3rem;|| line-height: 62px;||color: #e0f8eb;” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Fritz Syberg: The first snow, 1905 Oil, 66 x 89 cm. SMK
Photo: Inferno<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font_size=”43px” custom_margin=”|-138px||||” custom_padding=”|0px||||” custom_css_main_element=”max-width: 340px;||font-weight: 700;|| letter-spacing: -.2px;|| font-size: 3rem;|| line-height: 62px;||color: #e0f8eb;” text_text_shadow_style=”preset4″ text_text_shadow_color=”#763E05″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The peasant painter controversy<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”20px” header_2_font_size=”2.88rem” custom_margin=”-65px|||||” custom_padding=”||0px|||” text_font_size_tablet=”20px” text_font_size_phone=”20px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Funen Painter’s motifs from barns and farmhouses did not always appeal to contemporary taste in the Copenhagen salons. In 1907, when painters such as Johannes Larsen<\/a> and Fritz Syberg<\/a> were generally celebrated and sold well, a group of Symbolist painters launched an attack on what they mockingly called “clog art”.\u00a0<\/p>\n The controversy broke out in the pages of Politiken<\/em> on 14 april 1907 and lasted for about four months.<\/p>\n The painter Gudmund Hentze opened up by writing that the Funen Painters’ art, “now that it has aged, is nothing but desolate, poor, coarse, ugly, and envious”. He also claimed that the Funen Painters were “broad-bottomed country bumpkins” who took up space at the expense of new art. In short: they took up too much space.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hentze was supported by Harald and Agnes Slott-M\u00f8ller. They were also symbolists and had – together with, among others, the Funen Painters – been involved in founding Den Frie Udstilling<\/em>. After some years, they felt pushed out of the community and now returned with a demand for greater room to operate: the peasant painters were not “the only ones who matter in Danish art”.<\/p>\n The art historian Karl Madsen, who was a curator at the National Gallery of Denmark, responded in defense of the Funen Painters, and soon the writer Johannes V. Jensen joined the debate on their side: the Jutlandic writers – Jensen himself, Jeppe Aakj\u00e6r, Johan Skjoldborg and Th\u00f8ger Larsen – and the Funen Painters had to stand together against the Symbolists’ attack.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/johanneslarsenmuseet.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Peter-Hansen-Grisene-drives-ud.-1904.-Olie-paa-laerred.-64-x-77-cm.-Johannes-Larsen-Museet.-Foto-Inferno.png” title_text=”Peter Hansen: Grisene drives ud, 1904. Olie p\u00e5 l\u00e6rred. 64 x 77 cm. Johannes Larsen Museet. Foto: Inferno” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”20px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n
<\/h2>\n
The peasant painter controversy of 1907<\/h2>\n