Frits Thaulow

Frits Thaulow
Born	(1847-10-20)20 October 1847 Christiania, Norway
Died	5 November 1906(1906-11-05) (aged 59) Volendam, Netherlands
Known for	Landscape painting
Movement	Impressionism
Spouse(s)	Ingeborg Charlotte Gad ​ ​ (m. 1874; div. 1886)​ Alexandra Lasson ​ (m. 1886)​
Children	4, including Else Frölich
Father	Harald Thaulow
Awards	Order of Saint Olav (Commander) Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Legion of Honour (Officer) Nichan Iftikhar

Frits Thaulow (20 October 1847 – 5 November 1906) was a Norwegian Impressionist painter renowned for his naturalistic depictions of landscape.

Early life and education

Johan Frederik Thaulow was born in Christiania, the son of a wealthy chemist, Harald Conrad Thaulow (1815–1881), and Nicoline ("Nina") Louise Munch (1821–1894). Thaulow was educated at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen in 1870–1872, and from 1873 until 1875 he studied with Hans Gude at the Baden School of Art in Karlsruhe.

Career

Frits Thaulow, ca 1900. Photograph by Anders Beer Wilse

Thaulow was one of the earliest artists to paint in Skagen in the north of Jutland, soon to become famous for its Skagen Painters. He arrived there in 1879 with his friend Christian Krohg, who persuaded him to spend the summer and autumn there. They arrived from Norway in Thaulow's little boat. Thaulow, who had specialized in marine painting, turned to Skagen's favorite subjects, the fishermen and the boats on the shore.

After his stay in Skagen, Thaulow returned to Norway in 1880. He became one of the leading young figures in the Norwegian art scene, together with Christian Krohg and Erik Werenskiold, and he helped establish the first National Art Exhibit (also known as Høstutstillingen or Autumn Exhibit) in 1882. Many of Thaulow's best-known Norwegian scenes are from Åsgårdstrand, which had become an important center for artists and painters dating from the 1880s.

Thaulow moved to France in 1892, living there until 1906. He soon discovered that the cityscapes of Paris did not suit him. His best paintings were made in small towns such as Montreuil-sur-Mer (1892–94), Dieppe and surrounding villages (1894–98), Quimperle in Brittany (1901) and Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne in the Corrèze département (1903). One of his most famous works made after he moved to France was A village street in France. In Dieppe Thaulow and his wife Alexandra made themselves popular: they were friends with artist Charles Conder, and they met Aubrey Beardsley.

Thaulow received a number of honors for his artistic activity, including his appointment as commander of the 2nd Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1905. He received the French Legion of Honor, the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus from Italy and the Order of Nichan Iftikhar from Tunisia. He died in Volendam, in The Netherlands. The National Gallery of Norway features 37 of his works. Other prominent displays include the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University.

Personal life

Thaulow was married twice. In 1874 he married Ingeborg Charlotte Gad (1852–1908). They were the parents of silent film actress Else Frölich. The marriage dissolved in 1886. In 1886, he married Alexandra Lasson (1862–1955), the daughter of Carl Lasson (1830–1893), a noted Norwegian attorney. He had three children with his second wife: Harald Thaulow (1887–1971), Ingrid Thaulow (1892–1983) and Christian Lasson Thaulow (1895–1944).

Selected gallery

• 
  Fransk havn (Le Havre) 1875
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  Portrait of Frederik Collett 1875
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  The King, from Akershus fortress 1878
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  On the coast. Motif from Jaeren, Norway 1879
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  Night 1880
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  Sommerdag i hagen 1880
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  View of Amerikavej in Copenhagen 1881
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  Revierhavnen 1881
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  The Train is arriving 1881
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  Summer Day 1881
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  The Park of the Royal Palace, Oslo 1882
• 
  Houses in Kragerø 1882
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  Rock, Motif from Kragero 1882
• 
  Street in Kragero 1882
• 
  Factories in Ivry 1883
• 
  Winter at the River Simoa 1883
• 
  A River 1883
• 
  The Waterfall Haugfossen 1883
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  Iskjøring 1884
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  View from the Alster 1885
• 
  Elv 1886
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  Winter 1886
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  Vinter, Vestre Aker 1886–1887
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  Spring Thaw 1887
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  Norsk vinterlandskap 1890
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  The Sailing Boat 1890
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  Løvsprett 1891
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  Bank im Schnee, aus dem Elbpark 1891
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  The Mills at Montreuil-sur-Mer, Normandy 1891
• 
  Landschap met molen, Holland 1892
• 
  Freezing River 1892
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  Timber Haulers Returning Home 1892
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  Watermill 1892
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  Ambiance Du Soir 1893
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  Outside the Fortification Walls at Montreuil 1893
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  Ponte Pietra, Verona 1894
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  Area of Venice 1894
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  The Main Square, Montreuil (La Grande Place, Montreuil) 1894
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  The Adige River at Verona 1894
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  Red Church Wall in Venice 1894
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  Street in Venice 1894
• 
  River in Normandy 1894
• 
  Kveldstemning, Dieppe 1894–1898
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  July 14th in Dieppe 1894–1898
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  The Old Church by the River 1895
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  Fra Dieppe med elven Arques 1895
• 
  A Château in Normandy 1895
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  View of Venice 1895
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  Norwegian Winter 1896
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  Måneskinn Dieppe 1896
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  Vieille fabrique sur la Somme 1896–1897
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  Boulevard de la Madeleine à Paris 1896–1897
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  Midnight in Amiens 1897
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  Village on the Bank of a Stream 1897
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  Mountain stream, Winter 1898
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  Field of Melons near Pittsburgh, USA 1898
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  Village Street in overcast Weather 1898
• 
  Gare d'Orleans in Paris under Construction 1898
• 
  Picquigny 1899
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  Ponte Scaligero (Verona) 1899
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  Fra Akerselven 1897–1901
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  Clergy House in Norway 1900
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  Treschow's Bridge 1901
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  From Brittany 1901
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  Den gamle fabrikk 1901
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  A Stream in Springtime 1901
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  Washerwomen at Quimperle 1902
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  Paysage 1903
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  La Dordogne 1903
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  Marmortrappen 1903
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  Square in Cordova 1903
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  Nyholms Vagt 1904
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  Moonlight in Beaulieu 1904
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  Place Marbot 1904
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  Dordrecht 1905
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  Small Town near La Panne 1905
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  Fabriques en Norvège, les deux moulins sur la rivière Mesma 1905
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  La nouvelle fabrique à Lillehammer 1905–1906
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  Canal in Volendam 1906
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  Towards the Pont Lovignon in Quimperlé 1906
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  Under the Rialto Bridge of Venice
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  Winter in Paris
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  The Priest
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  Paysage et Riviere
• 
  The River at Beaulieu
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  A French River Landscape
• 
  Place Marbot
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  Midnight Mass
• 
  La Verger (An Orchard)
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  A River in Normandy with a Woman Carrying Water
• 
  Sunset over L'Elle river, near Quimperlé, France
• 
  French river landscape with a stone bridge
• 
  Soleil couchant sur l'Arques à Péquigny
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  Kanal med vannmølle
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  Shadows
• 
  Winter on the Canal
• 
  Village by a Stream
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  Ferme aux toits rouges sur les bords de l’Arques, fin d’été
• 
  A River Landscape with a Church Beyond
• 
  Rio en invierno

Other sources

• Pakenham, Simona. Sixty Miles from England: The English at Dieppe 1814-1914, (London, Macmillan, 1967).
• Poulsson, Vidar Frits Thaulow: 1847-1906 (B.A. Mathisen. 1992) ISBN 978-82-91255-00-2.
• Poulsson, Vidar; Thune, Richard M. Frits Thaulow (Hirschl & Adler Galleries; 1985).
• Haverkamp, Frode (trans. Joan Fuglesang) Hans Fredrik Gude: From National Romanticism to Realism in Landscape (Aschehoug. 1992) ISBN 978-82-03-17072-0.

External links

• Kulturnett.no
• Small town square Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Fritz Thaulow on the official website of the Musée Rodin.