Eftermiddagslandskab, Sjælland 1858

Vilhelm Kyhn made this landscape etching of Zealand in Denmark at an unknown date. The image presents an idealised view of the Danish countryside, a style that chimed with the national romanticism of the time. Kyhn was a key figure in the development of Danish art. He helped found the Free Exhibition in 1891, which was established as an alternative to the conservative Charlottenborg Exhibition, the official art show of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. Through the Free Exhibition, Kyhn sort to challenge the institutional structures that governed artistic production and reception in Denmark. Kyhn's charming etching can be seen as part of a broader cultural movement that sought to define Danish national identity through its landscapes. His landscape scenes invite us to consider how art reflects and shapes social and political contexts. To understand this image better, we might look at nineteenth-century Danish history, its artistic institutions, and the wider European movement of national romanticism.