A View of Faaborg. Winter 1898 - 1902

Peter Hansen painted "A View of Faaborg. Winter" using oil on canvas. Here we see a provincial town, a snow-covered landscape, and a sky heavy with clouds. Hansen was a key figure among the Funen Painters, a group who turned their backs on Copenhagen's art academy in the 1880s to establish an artist colony in Funen. They rejected academic art in favour of naturalism and plein air painting. They wanted to paint modern life, focusing on rural scenes from their own region. The Funen Painters' work chimes with wider trends: a rejection of big cities, and a renewed interest in the national and the regional. As social historians, we can see the values of this movement reflected in the work they produced. To understand Hansen's place in this movement, we can look at manifestos, exhibition reviews, and biographies of the artists involved. These resources help us understand this painting not just as a depiction of a landscape, but as a statement about the value of regional life.