Anna Ancher

Anna Ancher painted quiet rooms in Skagen and the light that falls into them. A woman sewing by a window, a girl in a kitchen, sunlight on a blue wall: the subject is simple, and the real content is colour and light. She was an early observer of how colours shift in natural light.

She was born Anna Brøndum in Skagen in 1859, the daughter of the local innkeeper, at a time when artists were starting to gather there. She studied drawing in Copenhagen at Vilhelm Kyhn’s school and later in Paris with Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. She married the painter Michael Ancher and kept working throughout her life, becoming one of the central Skagen Painters. Well-known works include Sunlight in the Blue Room, Girl in the Kitchen and Harvesters. She appeared on the Danish 1000-krone note.

In pictures like A Sewing Class in Skagen, watch the patches of window light: they are usually where the painting starts.