In the early 1880s, a number of Danish artists directed harsh criticism at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, particularly regarding its strict rules on admission, the teaching methods employed, and its conservative views on art. Among other things, the widespread dissatisfaction with the Academy prompted the establishment of the alternative art school The Artists’ Independent Study Schools in Copenhagen in 1882. Here, the teaching was characterised by a much greater degree of freedom and openness to the new trends seen on the international art scene as regards the choice of subjects, techniques and manners of painting. The painters P.S. Krøyer and Lauritz Tuxen taught there, drawing inspiration from the new currents they had explored in Paris, and Kristian Zahrtmann’s teaching had a decisive impact on the further development of Danish painting in the twentieth century.

The majority of the paintings in the Collection of Danish Early Modern Art were made by artists who studied at The Artists’ Independent Study Schools, whether briefly or for longer periods of time, among them Vilhelm Hammershøi, P.S. Christiansen and the Funen Painters. As a result, the collection includes paintings created by artists who were inspired by Impressionist techniques in their use of colour and light, as well as paintings where the artists’ meticulous plein air studies have given rise to highly realistic depictions of nature and other settings.