Erindring fra Jægerspris, med en mose 1848

Vilhelm Kyhn made this print, "Erindring fra Jægerspris, med en mose" or "Memory from Jægerspris, with a bog," to capture the atmosphere of the Danish countryside. Kyhn was working during a time when artists and intellectuals across Europe were developing a new sense of national identity. Kyhn was a key figure in establishing a distinctly Danish tradition in landscape painting, turning away from the grand historical scenes that had dominated academic art. Instead, he focused on the local and the everyday. This small print reflects a larger cultural project of defining what it meant to be Danish through its landscapes. Kyhn was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy, so his role in shaping Danish art went beyond his own work. To further understand Kyhn’s influence, we can look at the archives of the Academy, exhibition reviews, and other printed material reflecting artistic debates of the time. Art is always made in dialogue with the institutions and social structures of its time.