Johansen, Viggo

Biografi i relation til Skagen

Gik på Kunstakademiet i København, men opnåede ligesom Michael Ancher aldrig at tage afgang trods gentagne forsøg.

Malede sine første billeder af fiskere i Hornbæk sammen med P.S. Krøyer og Carl Locher som var jævnaldrende med Johansen.

Kom til Skagen i 1875 og forelskede sig i Martha Møller som var Anna Anchers kusine.

De første år boede ægteparret Johansen i Madam Bendsens gård i Vesterby (Tuxens Villa), men i 1891 umiddelbart efter Krøyers bryllupsrejse med Marie Krøyer, kom det til et brud mellem Krøyer og Viggo og især Martha Johansen. I følge en skarp brevveksling mellem parterne var den af grundene, at ægteparret Johansen havde taget Krøyers nu forstødte veninde Helene Christensen i huset, men mere afgørende var det, at Martha Johansen aldrig havde brudt sig om Marie.

Først efter Krøyers død i 1909 kom ægteparret Johansen igen til Skagen om sommeren og skagensmotiverne vendte tilbage i Viggo Johansens kunst.

Biography in relation to Skagen

Attended the Royal Academy of Art in Copenhagen but like Michael Ancher he never passed the exam in spite of several attempts.

Viggo Johansen painted his first paintings of fishermen in Hornbæk where he stayed together with P.S. Krøyer and Carl Locher who were his contemporaries.

He arrived in Skagen in 1875 and fell in love with Martha Møller who was cousin of Anna Ancher.

During the first years the Johansen couple lived at Madam Bendsen’s farm in Vesterby [western part of Skagen] (Tuxen’s villa), but 1891, immediately after the honeymoon of Krøyer and Marie, a rupture happened between Krøyer and Viggo Johansen and especially Martha Johansen. According to a harsh correspondence between the parties one of the reasons was that the Johansen couple had taken into the house the former girl friend of Krøyer, Helene Christensen, but more important was that Martha Johansen never liked Marie.

Not until after Krøyer’s death did the Johansens’ return to Skagen in the summer, and the Skagen motifs returned into Viggo Johansen’s paintings.

English (translation: Grete Hjort)