Skitse af bygd 1883

Lars Møller made this sketch of a village with pencil and watercolour on paper. It’s a small work, just over 10cm high, yet it opens up a window onto a fascinating historical moment of artistic and cultural exchange. Møller was one of the first Greenlandic artists trained in European techniques at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. He would later return to Greenland, working for the rest of his life as a catechist, translator, and teacher. Here, we can see the way the European conventions of landscape painting were being put to use in representing Greenlandic life. The inclusion of a church, a trading station, and traditional dwellings suggests something of the cultural tensions of the time. Exploring Greenlandic art history from this period helps us understand the relationship between the colonial power of Denmark and the indigenous population. We can learn more through the written records of the Moravian missionary church and the trading company that dominated Greenlandic society at this time. By examining this history, we can better understand the dynamics of cultural exchange.