Provenance:

Private Collection, Denmark

Exhibitions:

Probably Spring Exhibition, Charlottenborg, 1888, no. 5

Description:

The son of Hillerød Achen and Johanne Tryde, together with his brother, the celebrated architect, Eggert Achen, Georg moved with his family to Copenhagen in 1871. He began his studies under Vilhelm Kyhn and shortly after this in the Danish Academy of Arts from 1877 until 1883, the year of his first exhibited works in Charlottenborg. He also spent some time studying under the well-known painter, Peder Severin Krøyer, from 1884 to 1885. Krøyer, at this point was still exhibiting at Charlottenborg and had recently been to Skagen, a place that changed Krøyer’s art forever. Achen is also thought to have visited Paris in 1886 and Italy in 1888, both places of enormous interest for any self respecting artist. From 1893 until 1896 he was a member of the council of the Danish Academy.

His earlier work centred around landscape and genre painting, but from the early 1890s he started to gain recognition as a portrait painter and it is in this area that he became most well-known, winning the Thorvaldsen Medal in 1890 for the portrait of his Mother. About this time he also fell under the influence of Vilhelm Hammershøi and one of his most celebrated paintings of Drømmevinduet (The Dream Window) of 1903, now in the Aarhus Kunstmuseum (right), shows the extent of this inspiration. His work was generally well received by critics and the public alike and he enjoyed a burgeoning career as a regular exhibitor and with regular clientele.

‘Young Girl watching a Pot cooking’ is typical of his earlier career in its simple yet charming depiction of a peasant interior. The fierce bright light from the fire illuminates the scene as embers float upwards into the gloom of the kitchen interior. Despite the fierce heat, the young girl stands close to the steaming pot and the artist cleverly reflects the light of the flames in the brass tongs which she would use to poke the fire which is lit and fed below the stone top.