Background
A son of farmer Therkild Nielsen and Karen (née Hendriksen), Therkildsen learnt to draw at the technical school in Horsens after which he attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1868-1874.
A son of farmer Therkild Nielsen and Karen (née Hendriksen), Therkildsen learnt to draw at the technical school in Horsens after which he attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1868-1874.
Foreign some time, he received private tuition from Constantin Hansen. He had his debut at the Charlottenborg exhibition in 1875 with Et Bondehus (A Farm House) and painted street life pictures in the years from 1876-1878. In 1879, he painted 3 Piger (Three girls) which along with two other pictures was bought by Kunstforeningen.
He preferred painting rural scenes and soon discovered his increasing interest in depicting animals.
He also became a capable landscape painter, having a particular skill for representing men and animals and the space surrounding them as can be seen in En ung Pige, som giver en Hest Brød (A Young Girl Giving a Horse Bread), a work dating from 1880. In 1880, Therkildsen undertook a trip to Paris where he stayed for a while, receiving important inputs from artistic currents in France.
He developed his technique and his use of colour during his stay. In 1882 and 1884, he also travelled, making it to Italy on a stipend from the academy.
In that year, the National Gallery of Denmark acquired its first of his paintings, Kaade Heste (Frisky Horses).
Heste i Dyrehaven (Horses in Dyrehaven) from 1884 which is also in the national gallery shows Therkildsens ability to create a joint harmony of figures and landscape. He was awarded a silver medal at the world exhibition in Paris. Hans Michael Therkildsen is represented at the following museuems in Denmark:
ARoS - Aarhus Kunstmuseum
Bornholm Art Museum
Fuglsang Art Museum
Funen Art Museum
Hirschsprung Collection
KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg
Ribe Art Museum
National Gallery of Denmark
Trapholt.