The Hyper-realistic Scandinavian Art of Carl Sundt-Hansen

As I read Sundt-Hansen’s biography I keep on wondering how an artist of such magnitude had to go through the financial troubles that he endured in his career to the point of him seemingly dying totally bankrupt and with cancer at the age of 66, after having spent his final days in some neck of the woods in Norway living in a small cabin (albeit in an idyllic place). I gather that this man should be nowadays an icon in his native Norway regardless.

Whatever the case might be Carl Sundt-Hansen was a gifted artist who painted his works with outstanding hyper-realistic precision, a feature with still provokes admiration to this day. Here is his biography which I had put together thanks to information sources written in English but also in Norwegian (Bokmål I presume).

Biography

Carl Sundt-Hansen (1841-1907) image by C. Brasch.

Carl Fredrik Sundt-Hansen (30 January 1841, Stavanger – 27 August 1907, Stavanger) was a Norwegian-Danish genre painter in the Romantic Nationalist style. He adopted his mother’s maiden-name (Sundt) in 1878.

As the eldest son an old family of wealthy merchants, young Carl was determined to take over the family business, but finally decided to turn it over to his younger 16-year-old brother Hans in order to join the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen which by that time was directed by Frederik Ferdinand Helsted. Sundt-Hansen’s father was interested in the arts as well and, at some point, he had helped young Carl establish a local theater in his hometown, so Hansen encountered little opposition from his family when he decided to move to the art academy in 1859. However Sundt-Hansen did not like it there. At some point he shared lodging with one of his professors, but after some time he chafed under the strict oversight. In spite of these issues Sundt-Hansen discovered his interest in folk life painting while living in Copenhagen.

About two years later Sundt-Hansen decided to travel to Düsseldorf to join the Kunstakademie there. Although his fellow-countrymen, Adolph Tidemand and Hans Gude were teaching at the Kunstakademie Sundt-Hansen chose to study with Swiss folk painter Benjamin Vautier who nourished Hansen’s interest in folk life tradition even further. Thus Carl Fredrik Sundt-Hansen found the artistic direction he needed, a direction he maintained for the most part of his artistic life. In 1864, he sent his first painting home, where it was shown at an exhibit by the Oslo Kunstforening and was well received.

Carl Fredrik Sundt-Hansen portrayed Norwegian peasant life as truthfully and faithfully as possible in the most accurate and detailed way. His choice was predominantly figurative motifs with peasants and farm girls, both indoors and outdoors, often with only a single person pictured in solitary contemplation. – Translated from Norsk Kunstnerleksikon, I-IV, published 1982-86.

In 1866 Carl Sundt-Hansen moved to Paris as he became very interested in Ernest Meissonier and Paul Delaroche‘s extremely precise and detailed historical genre paintings. Hansen decided to perfect his own technique in the same direction, at the same time, he concentrated more on the psychological aspects of his portrayal of people influenced by the demands of French Realism for truthfulness and honesty in the rendering of motifs. The effort was really worth it; when King Charles visited the Exposition Universelle in 1867, he was so impressed by Hansen’s work that he awarded him the Order of Vasa.

‘Saturday Proposal In Setesdal’ (1880) by Carl Sundt-Hansen. Hyper-realistic art at its best. Practically a photograph.

In 1869 he moved to Oslo where he wanted to settle permanently. His intention was to establish a studio in the city but the environment felt too narrow as the art market there was somewhat unpromising. Hansen eventually decided to relocate to Stockholm in 1871, where he remained until 1882. Rumour has it that, at his arrival to the Swedish capital, Hansen was employed by the art-enthusiast King Carl XV, but the King unfortunately died the following year.

It was precisely in Stockholm where Hansen created some of his finest works. He concentrated on motifs that depicted people in emotionally charged situations and in scenes where man is confronted powerlessly with fate. Intimate and low-key, but at the same time psychologically profound. Anxiety and guilt, remorse and atonement, grief and death are depicted, with an almost photographic realism. – Translated from Norsk Kunstnerleksikon, I-IV, published 1982-86.

In 1882 an economic crisis precipitated by the Paris Bourse Crash forced Hansen’s family business in Stavanger to go bankrupt, as a consequence he was no longer financially independent. In an attempt to improve his situation he moved from Stavanger, where he had frequented the highest social strata, and settled outside Copenhagen where his home became a gathering place for many Norwegian and Danish artists. However the income from his paintings was insufficient and, as he was a slow worker, he produced very little output. By that time his brother Wilhelm was ruined and his wife, the artist Frida Hansen, had to be the family’s support.

Because of Hansen’s financial situation now became dependent on selling his works, he painted a number of motifs from the more idyllic and humorous aspects of folk life, such as Peasant Girl Playing Accordion (1884, Lillehammer City‘s painting collection). However, he did not let go of more serious themes, and in 1890 he painted A Funeral on Board (National Gallery), the picture he himself kept for his main work. It won the 2nd gold medal in Munich in 1891 and poet Holger Drachmann wrote a poem about it.

Sundt-Hansen’s technique meant he spent a very long time on each picture. To reduce the cost of models, he began in Copenhagen to photograph the main subjects and then paint directly after the photographs. There are many indications that he may also have developed a technique of transferring the photograph directly to the canvas, but the procedure is not known. – Translated from Norsk Kunstnerleksikon, I-IV, published 1982-86.

In 1889, he became a Danish citizen and was admitted to the Royal Academy as a full member. He lived in Copenhagen until 1896 but poor finances forced him to reduce his cost of living. It was during that year when he settled in Valle in Setesdal (Norway) where he was surrounded by his beloved motives while living in a small cabin there.

In 1907, he became ill with what was diagnosed as nicotine poisoning. Nothing worked to improve his health, so he went to a hospital in Stavanger, where it was discovered that he had cancer. For the last few months of his life, he lived in Stavanger with his brother, Hans. No more details about Hansen’s last days or even about his final resting place are given.

Sources: Le Prince Lointain, wikipedia and Norwegian Artist Lexicon.

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