Background
Theodor Esbern Philipsen was born on June 10, 1840, in Copenhagen, Denmark and grew up in a cultural family.
He studied at the the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and continued after a brief stay in the education at the model school, where Vermehren's requirements for studying reality and respect for the past came to influence his development.
Theodor Esbern Philipsen was born on June 10, 1840, in Copenhagen, Denmark and grew up in a cultural family.
Theodor learned to draw early. His greatest interest, however, was to deal with animals, and it was therefore natural that he went through an agricultural education with his uncle, a proprietary Moritz Philipsen, at Højagergård near Slangerup. Only in the 1860s did Philipsen get to know one of his brothers, the painter Hans Smidth, and that contributed to his decision to become an artist himself. He studied at the the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and continued after a brief stay in the education at the model school, where Vermehren's requirements for studying reality and respect for the past came to influence his development.
From the public collections in Copenhagen, Theodor Philipsen already knew J.Th. Lundby's portrayals of animals. He also had knowledge of Paul Potter and other 16th-century Dutch landscape and animal painters. Despite all schooling, it became the love of nature and of the domestic animals that characterized Philipsen's art interest in the future. In 1873 he won the Neuhausens Prize for "Horse Rides for Swimming."
Theodor really found his artistic identity in the open-air painting of the 1880s and, through his involvement in French impressionism, was of great importance to the subsequent generations of Danish colorists. Philipsen's nature perception was more realistic than the artistic models. It was therefore natural for him to seek inspiration in Paris, and together with Laurits Tuxen, he taught at Léon Bonnat, a very unusual step for an older artist of 35 years. Here Philipsen learned through intensive croquis drawing to capture the characteristic of a movement and to give his images a superior overall effect.
Philipsen became acquainted with the radical French art through friendship with the Belgian painter Rémy Cogghe, who he was with in Spain in 1882 and the following year in Rome. Then Philipsen - who had now passed the 40 years - developed his characteristic painting, which applied to light, color, nature, and animals, and which has inextricably linked his name to Saltholm and Amager.
Theodor's interest in impressionism was strengthened through the French painter Paul Gauguin, who stayed in Copenhagen in the winter of 1884 - 1885. From him, Philipsen learned to use small brushes and short, firm strokes. Through his art, which never looked for the spectacular, Theodor Philipsen came to play a significant role as an intermediary of the French impressionism's ideas, which until now have dominated large parts of Danish painting. Around 1905, he began to suffer from an eye disease that interfered with his ability to paint. The artist died on March 3, 1920. He is buried at Holmens Kirkegård.
Fra Jyderup. Studie Til En Vandingsscene
1869Brakkebroen landing stage on Saltholm
1881Gebäude im Tiergarten nördlich von Kopenhagen
1882Late Autumn Day in the Jægersborg Deer Park, North of Copenhagen
1886A Shower
1890Long Shadows. Cattle on the Island of Saltholm
1890An Avenue in Kastrup
1890Cattle Seen Against the Sun on the Island of Saltholm. A Color Study
1892At the Black Stream, Mejlgaard. Study
1894Homeward at milking-time. Evening. Saltholm
1897Gæs
1899Cows near the well at Gammelgaard, Saltholm
1901Malkeplads ved Dyrehavegård
1901Cows homeward bound in the evening
1904A group of horses, Saltholmen
1906Bissevejr
1909The large reservoir, Saltholm
1911Cattle on Saltholm
1912A black-and-white cow
Theodor Esbern Philipsen adhered to the rtistic traditions of Impressionism.
Theodor Philipsen was a member of The Free Exhibition from 1891.
Theodor himself preferred to retreat from modern life, but his welcoming attitude towards young artists and open-mindedness regarding the latest arts made him a highly respected and central figure within Danish art.