Marie in the Garden 1893

Peder Krøyer painted this image of his wife, Marie, presumably in the late 19th century, using oil on canvas. Krøyer’s brushwork is loose and impressionistic, but it’s clear that he has paid close attention to the qualities of light playing on the scene. Notice how the sunlight filters through the leaves, dappling Marie’s white dress with highlights. He has carefully depicted her dress’s materiality, using light and shadow to give it depth and dimension. The wooden chair provides a contrast to the soft fabric, its solid form rendered with broad strokes of brown paint. The painting’s emphasis on leisure and domesticity reflects the values of the bourgeois class to which Krøyer and his wife belonged. The work celebrates the pleasures of modern life, showing the way that art and craft intersect with larger social and cultural trends. By considering the context in which it was made, we can understand the full meaning of this artwork.