Summer evening in Skagen. Artist's wife and dog on the shore

Peder Severin Kroyer was born in 1851 in Stavanger ( Norway ), but spent his childhood with his aunt in Copenhagen ( Denmark ) ^[1] . After receiving an art education, from 1877 to 1881, with the support of the patron , Kroyer traveled to the Netherlands , Belgium , France , Spain and Italy , where he became acquainted with the work of old masters ^[1] . Already a famous artist, in 1882, while in Vienna ( Austria ), Kroyer met with Michael Anker . Anker settled in Skagen in 1874, and then married the local artist Anne Brennum , the daughter of the owner of the in the village, which hosted creative meetings of members of the local art community known as “ Skagen artists ” ^[2] . Kroyer first came to Skagen in 1882, and his presence did not go unnoticed by members of the community who invited him to their ranks ^[3] . This was caused by the deplorable state of Danish fine art after the end of the Golden Age , and Kroyer was seen by many as the standard-bearer of the revival of the Danish school ^[4] . In 1883, he left for France , where, under the influence of impressionism , he created his own style, subsequently gaining a reputation as a realist in Denmark, especially due to the depiction of scenes on the beach, lively meetings of artists, fishermen ^{[1] [2]} . It was not by chance that he attracted the attention of “Skagen artists” who rejected the Royal Academy and opposed paintings only for the pleasure of the rich, believing that art should show the real and hard life of an ordinary person, burdened by poverty, disease and dangers in everyday work at sea ^[5] . Fascinated by Skagen, his landscape and the life of his people, Kroyer came there again every summer, spending the rest of his time traveling or to Copenhagen, where he had a studio. In Skagen, he began to study the expanses of sky, sand and sea, drifting in his work to symbolism . In the summer of 1889, after marrying the artist Maria Tripke , whom he met in Paris , Kroyer finally settled in Skagen, becoming one of the prominent members of the “Skagen artists” ^{[2] [6]} .

Maria was born in 1867 in a wealthy German family living in Copenhagen. From an early age, she strove to become an artist, and after private training, she went to Paris to continue her studies. It was there, at the beginning of 1889, that she met Kroyer, who fell in love with her, and although he was 16 years older than her, they got married that summer. In 1891 they settled in Skagen, where Kroyer could paint portraits of Mary both indoors and outdoors, especially on the beaches. Spending every summer of the 1890s in Skagen, Kroyer felt that Maria was an inspiration to him, often quoting John Keats - “ Beauty is truth, truth is beauty ” ^[7] . In 1895, Mary gave birth to a daughter, Vibeke. She remained with her father in Skagen after Maria and Peder divorced in 1906, due to his mental health problems ^[3] . In 1912, Maria married the Swedish composer Hugo Alfven , also fascinated by her beauty. It is believed that by that time, Maria, undoubtedly possessing coloristic and aesthetic feelings, had already stopped painting, possibly due to self-criticism, as well as a meeting with Kroyer, whom she considered a much more talented artist. However, some of her works nonetheless survived ^{[8] [9]} .

A picture measuring 206 by 123 centimeters is painted in oil on canvas ^[10] . Maria Kroyer is depicted in profile, standing in a white dress on the sand by the sea, her sad face and bright clothes glow in the setting sun ^[7] . The painting is part of a series of works in which Kroyer tried to portray the light and mood on the shore of Skagen, at that moment, which he called the “ blue hour ” - a short period at dusk, when the light casts a blue tint on the landscape. The reflection of the moon adds a sense of depth to a flat background, which is basically a monolith of the blue sea. Although Mary is depicted at the height of the viewer, the horizon is located above her head, and her radiance is especially emphasized in comparison with a muffled, almost monochrome landscape ^[11] .

The painting was exhibited in 1893 at the , where it received mixed reviews. from the conservative edition of called the portrait beautiful and noted that “it’s so good that it throws ... ennobling light onto the entire collection” ^[12] , and Johann Jorgensen from Politiken claimed that the viewer he quickly got tired of the picture, as Maria depicted on it “is not able to arouse any mood”, the color in some places is “distinctly unpleasant”, and the dog, Rap, is “ugly and unpleasant for the contemplated animal” ^[12] . Critics at the in Paris in 1894 expressed enthusiasm for Kroyer’s use of the color palette, while being struck by the flatness of the composition ^[12] . French critics, who saw the painting at the in Paris in 1928, compared it with the works of the impressionist Paul Albert Benard , in particular with the portrait of Madame Roger Jourdain, and one of them expressed the opinion that the comparison showed "victory" the influence of the French school ^[11] .

After the painting was shown at the Free Exhibition in 1893, in the summer of that year it was shown at an exhibition in Munich, and then immediately sold from the booth to a German art lover. Kroyer had mixed feelings about this, because he wanted the portrait to be in the Danish museum, but he was glad that his painting attracted so much attention and a lot of enthusiastic reviews in Germany, in addition, it was sold for 1,000 kroons more, which he could not have reached in Denmark. Although the painting no longer belonged to Kroyer, he exhibited it at the Salon-du-Champ-de-Mars in 1894. In 1900, he received a letter from the owner of the painting, banker Steinbart, asking him to buy a portrait. After that, Kroyer talked with Heinrich Hirschsprung, who organized the purchase of the painting by Jacob Jacobsen for his New Carlsberg Glyptotek in early 1902 ^[11] . In 1937, the painting was sold to the , where it is still located ^[13] .

• Summer evening in Skagen. The artist’s wife and a dog on the beach (Neopr.) . Skagen Museum .