Vilhelm Kyhn

Kyhn was born in Copenhagen to Carl Gottlieb Kyhn and his wife Sara Marie. His father was against his becoming an artist, and he was first put to train in a business office; then as a compromise he was allowed to train with copperplate engraver, Georg Hoffmann. Here he learned to make vignettes, a skill which became useful to him later when he learned to make etchings.

He also got the opportunity to begin his training at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1836. He entered the School of Plaster Model Painting in 1840, and into the School of Model Painting in 1841, where he was influenced by the classicism of teacher Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, father of the Golden Age of Danish Painting, and J. L. Lund.[1] He was also influenced by Niels Lauritz Høyen, another teacher at the Academy as well as an important art critic and art historian, who encouraged a unique Danish school of art. N. F. S. Grundtvig was also a source of inspiration in his turn towards national romanticism.

Jutland woodlands, painted by Kyhn in 1845 near Silkeborg and exhibited at Charlottenborg in 1845

He won the small silver medallion in 1843 for a figure drawing, but he was set on becoming a landscape painter. At about this time Danish landscapes started to become a serious domain for Danish artists. Kyhn became part of the movement and was able to exhibit his first landscape, Et bornholmsk Strandparti (A View of the Beach on Bornholm), an area he had visited over a period of several years. This painting was purchased by the Danish Royal Painting Collection, now the Danish National Gallery, and later loaned to Aarhus Art Museum.

In 1845, Kyhn won a prize in the Neuhausen Competition (Neuhausenske Konkurs) for Landskab, hvori Foraaret karakteriseres (Spring Landscape).

Young Boy Seated on a Wall Overlooking Capri, one of Kyhn's relatively few paintings from his travels

After a few years of diligent work painting landscapes in Jutland and the north of Zealand, he began to seek out a travel stipend; he was awarded one in 1848. However, he delayed his travels until the spring of 1850 on account of the turbulent times around the European revolutions of 1848 which led to Denmark’s becoming a constitutional monarchy on June 5, 1849.

He traveled over the Netherlands and Belgium to Paris in the spring of 1850, and reached Italy in September of the same year. The following year he received an extension to his stipend. He painted few landscapes of the countries he visited, and only during his travels abroad.

Back in Denmark in June 1851, he returned to painting direct studies from nature. The paintings which Niels Lauritz Høyen bought from Kyhn show good development in his style. His landscape painting ability continued to improve over the years, as exemplified by the winter scene, Kystparti ved Taarbæk (View of the Coast near Taarbæk) and Udsigt over det flade Land ved Bjærgelide (View across the Flat Land near Bjærgelide) painted in 1858, which featured the typical Danish countryside near Horsens. The flat prairies of Jutland in this picture were not a popular subject at the time. He helped open the way for other artists to interpret this quintessential Danish landscape.

View over Vejle Fjord, 1854

After 1863, he painted many scenes in the special light of Denmark’s late summer evenings. These include the atmospheric Efter solnedgang i udkanten af en landsby (After Sunset on the Outskirts of a Village) painted in 1863 and Sildig Sommeraften ved Himmelbjærget (Late Summer Evening near Himmelbjerget) painted in 1874. Both of these paintings are in the collection of the National Museum of Art.

He painted many landscapes in the area near Silkeborg, and spent his summers starting in 1873 at Himmelbjerg, one of Denmark’s highest points. It was likely in this area that Kyhn began to experiment with painting in the open air, instead of painting in the studio as he had done previously and was customary.