Joakim Skovgaard – A Distinguished Artist

The Skovgaard Museum has its origins in Joakim Skovgaard and his decoration of Viborg Cathedral. However, Joakim Skovgaard was and remains much more than the cathedral itself, both as an artist and as a person. His story encompasses Italian landscapes, dragon sculptures, religious masterpieces, and ancient Danish folk tales.

Childhood

Joakim Skovgaard (1856–1933) grew up in an artistic household characterized by a strong awareness of history and politics, as well as close ties to the theologian, poet, and educator N.F.S. Grundtvig and the Danish folk high school movement. His father was one of the leading landscape painters of Denmark’s Golden Age, and from an early age Joakim learned to draw and paint by copying works of art.

The Earliest Works – Inspired by his Father

Joakim’s early landscapes were clearly influenced by his father’s paintings and by the color palette of the Danish Golden Age.

However, Joakim found new sources of inspiration during his extensive travels abroad.

He traveled to Paris in 1880–81, where he studied at the painting school of Léon Bonnat. There he was inspired by the “French masters” and the Impressionists, whose broad brushstrokes contrasted sharply with the refined and naturalistic style in which he had been trained. The harmonious colors he had previously used were replaced by a more subdued and grey-toned palette.

Yet Joakim’s style underwent another transformation during his travels in Italy and Greece between 1882 and 1884. The museum’s collection includes Sunday Afternoon at Cività d’Antino (1883), which demonstrates how his paintings once again became brighter, stronger, and fresher in color. It also marks the point at which he began introducing people into his landscapes, thereby distancing himself from his father’s unpopulated views of nature.

Although brighter colors returned to his work, Joakim repeatedly revisited the muted grey palette. He did not necessarily seek new artistic directions as replacements for previous ones, but rather as expansions of his artistic language.

Experiments in Ceramics

After returning from abroad, Joakim worked with ceramics at J. Wallmann’s workshop in Utterslev alongside his siblings Niels and Susette, as well as the artist and designer Thorvald Bindesbøll.

The group sought to create new and unconventional forms and expressions within the decorative arts while ensuring that their designs remained practical and functional. Joakim focused particularly on animal motifs and decorative interpretations of nature. Both themes reappeared in the sculptures he later created with Bindesbøll for Copenhagen City Hall: the Dragon Fountain (Dragespringvandet, 1888–1923) on City Hall Square and the Bear Fountain (Bjørnespringvandet, 1888–1901).

Religious Motifs – Rich in Color and Emotion

The first time Joakim fully engaged with Christian themes was in 1885, when he created illustrations for Grundtvig’s hymn The Blessed Day (Den Signede Dag).

Between 1889 and 1894, Joakim produced a series of major religious works, including Christ Leads the Thief into Paradise (1890, The Hirschsprung Collection) and Christ in the Realm of the Dead (1891–1894, National Gallery of Denmark). Rich in color and imbued with popular appeal and emotional intensity, these works stood out dramatically against the more restrained tradition of Danish painting. They were bold, striking, and impossible to ignore.

Viborg Cathedral

During the summers of 1874 and 1875, Joakim worked as a painter’s apprentice on F.C. Lund’s decoration of the ceiling in the nave of Viborg Cathedral. As a result, he became intimately familiar with the church interior. Therefore, when Bishop Swane of Viborg invited him in 1890 to submit a proposal for decorating the cathedral’s walls and vaults, Joakim already knew the space well.

The cathedral had been constructed in the Romanesque style, and Joakim therefore chose medieval fresco painting as the basis for its decoration. After several years of preparation and studies of Italian al fresco techniques, work began in 1901 and was completed in 1906. The frescoes form a popular visual Bible that unfolds across the cathedral’s walls and today stand as one of the masterpieces of Danish art.

In 1912–1913, he also created a new ceiling decoration for the nave, replacing the ceiling painted by F.C. Lund.

Decorative Commissions and Folk Ballad Themes

Alongside his major Christian decorative projects, which also included commissions for Lund Cathedral and Immanuel Church in Copenhagen, Joakim maintained a keen interest in traditional Danish folk ballads and fairy tales.

One example is the wedding hall of Copenhagen City Hall, which he completed shortly before his death. Another example can be seen at the museum in Ulver and Vænelil (1898), a preparatory design for the decoration of the tower chamber at Christiansborg Palace.

Joakim Skovgaard died in 1933 at the age of 77. He was named an Honorary Citizen of Viborg, one of only three individuals ever to receive this distinction.