Albertine i politilægens venteværelse

Albertine i politilægens venteværelse (English: Albertine in the Police Doctor's Waiting-Room; completed 1887) is the title of a naturalist painting by the Norwegian artist Christian Krohg, showing the scene in a medical waiting-room.

Albertine in the Police Doctor's Waiting-Room
Norwegian: Albertine i politilægens venteværelse
ArtistChristian Krohg
Year1887
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions211 cm × 326 cm (83 in × 128 in)
LocationNational Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo

Albertine i politilægens venteværelse is regarded as Krohg's principal work as a social painter. The painting touched upon the taboo subject of sexual life, and led to a heated debate among his contemporaries. The format of the painting is unusually large, the figures in it being portrayed at full scale. The painting is held in the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, formerly the National Gallery, in Oslo.[1]

The painting

The painting depicts a scene in a police doctor's waiting-room. "Albertine" is the next person who will enter the examination room. She is dressed in a simple costume, in contrast to the other women in the room, who are dolled up in colorful dresses, typical of the prostitutes of the period.[1]

Ownership history
Trett (English: Tired) from 1885

The painting was placed in a hut for nearly twenty years, until it was eventually sold. In 1907 the buyer resold the painting to the National Gallery of Norway.[2]

Krohg had created several earlier paintings based on the fate of the unmarried seamstress "Albertine", who is eventually forced into prostitution by the social system of the time. Other related paintings are Daggry from 1880 (at Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen), Sypiken from 1881 (at Göteborgs Konstmuseum), and Trett from 1885 (at the National Gallery in Oslo).[1] He explored the same subject in his novel Albertine, written in 1886.[3][4] The debate following the publishing and confiscation of the novel expedited the abolition of public prostitution in Norway.[5]

References
  1. Berg, Knut (1991). Norges Malerkunst (in Norwegian). 1. Oslo: Gyldendal. pp. 430–431. ISBN 82-05-20587-6.
  2. Beyer, Edvard (1975). Norges Litteraturhistorie (in Norwegian). 3. Oslo: Cappelen. p. 589. ISBN 82-02-02996-1.
  3. Berg, Knut. "Christian Krohg". In Helle, Knut (ed.). Norsk biografisk leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
  4. Jæger, Henrik; Anderssen, Otto (1896). Illustreret norsk Literaturhistorie (in Norwegian). 2. Kristiania: Hjalmar Biglers forlag. pp. 886–887.
  5. Beyer, Edvard. "Albertine". In Henriksen, Petter (ed.). Store norske leksikon (in Norwegian). Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget. Retrieved 22 September 2011.
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