Drachmanns Hus "Pax"

Høm

Schoolteacher Lauritz Høm came from the Skælskør area to Skagen in 1826 to take up his post as new schoolteacher at Vesterby School and church singer. (See the memorial stone for the school opposite Villa Pax)

Shortly after his arrival he built a house close to the school - a 7-storey brick half-timbered building with a timber-clad locomotive shed.  

Bakery

After Lauritz died in 1864 and his wife in 1868, his son Niels Peter Høm took over the house and established a bakery in the property.   

Drachmann's purchase

Holger Drachmann bought the house in 1902 from the baker HØM for the net sum of DKK 4,000. This happened at the same time that Drachmann was in divorce negotiations with Emmy.   

Studio extended

In connection with the acquisition, Holger Drachmann had a four-storey studio built. The sketches for this and a plan signed SK - Søren Krøyer were found in a workbench during the renovation in 2010.   

The whole house was refurbished by Drachmann and the old baking oven was replaced by a calorific central oven, from which heat was led into the bedroom, dining room and studio.

Soffi

Holger Drachmann married Soffi in 1903, and handed the house over to her at the same time.  

Drachmann's death

Admitted to the mental hospital in Hornbæk, Holger Drachmann contracted pneumonia and died in January 1908. He was cremated in Copenhagen and the urn was brought to Skagen via Frederikshavn in a huge hearse. Was buried on Grenen, where the grave can still be visited.   

The house as a museum/artist home

Skagen municipality did not want to buy the house for a museum, "there had been too many empty flagpoles" in connection with his burial. But with Drachmann's publisher Peter Nansen as the pioneer and personalities such as Laurits Tuxen and Johan Brodersen, money was scraped together to buy the house and convert it into a museum. It opened in 1911.   

Over the years, the house has been cared for by enthusiasts who have become legendary in their own right. Johan Brodersen, cantor Chr. Hansen Larsen, the head surveyor Allan Heilmann, the fishing skipper Peter Berthelsen, the teacher Poul Bernt and the local historian Hans Nielsen and his wife Bente.  

Renovation

In 2010-2011 the house underwent a thorough renovation financed by RealDania.   

Skagen's art museums

In 2015 the house was "merged" with Skagen Museum and Anchers Hus and is now managed professionally. 

Drachmanns atelier. Indsat P.S. Krøyer »Ved kaminen. Portræt af Holger Drachmann med rød fez, siddende«. Skagen. 1903-1907 (Skagens Museum)

Bemærk også at Michael Ancher samtidig malede Krøyer i færd med at male Drachmann. Dette kan ses i Anchers Hus (Michaels atelier)

Holger Drachmanns Hus i Skagen, 2:23 min, 12. dec. 2014, Henning Stage

- på besøg inde i selveste Herr Drachmanns Hus, som står næsten.. som dengang :)

Drachmann's studio. Inset P.S. Krøyer "By the fireplace. Portrait of Holger Drachmann with red fez, seated". Skagen. 1903-1907 (Skagen Museum) Note also that Michael Ancher painted Krøyer at the same time as he was painting Drachmann. This can be seen in Ancher's House (Michael's studio)

Holger Drachmann's House in Skagen, 2:23 min, 12 Dec. 2014, Henning Stage

- visiting Herr Drachmann's house, which is almost as it was then :)

Ved siden af pejsen i atelieret hænger et forarbejde til Carl Sundt-Hansens berømte billede "En begravelse ombord" fra 1890, der i dag hænger på Nasjonalgalleriet i Oslo. 

Carl Frederik Sundt-Hansen (1841-1907), stavangermaler,  barndomsven med Kitty Kielland og Alexander Kielland

Sundt-Hansen var en god bekendt af Drachmann og i 1895 malede de i fælleskab "Havets datter", der viser en havfrue i strandkanten, mens et skib i horisonten er i havsnød. 

Sundt-Hansen skulle tage sig af kvindeskikkelsen og Drachmann, der jo var marinemaler, skulle tage sig af himmel og hav. 

Maleriet var tiltænkt Drachmanns mæcen, forlagsboghandler Jacob Hegel, men i 1906, hang det stadig i atelieret i Pax i Skagen. Hvor det er i dag,  kan du læse en beretning om nedenfor! 

"En begravelse om bord" er Sundt-Hansens hovedværk (der ligger et postkort i skuffen i spisestuen, hvor værket er afbilledet). 

Den er skibets kaptajn, der er død, og den medsejlende hustru står som sørgende enke ved kisten, der er svøbt i det svensk-norske unionsflag.

Der er en fortættet stemning af sorg i billedet, hvor besætningen giver et spejlbillede af verden på landjorden i form af mange nationaliteter og aldre. 

Holger Drachmann fik i 1896 offentliggjort et digt med samme titel i Illustreret Familiejournal. Digtets 5. vers beskriver meget godt stemningen: 

Der var ej kareter, ej orgelspil - 

en kreds af vejrbidte mænd så til, 

og hvermand tænkte: i morgen den dag

ja, hvem skal så smykkes med skibets flag?

Neger, mulat og de gamle fyre, 

der slider for brødet og sejler for hyre, 

de unge, der sejler for lyst endnu - 

alle tænkte de: jeg eller du?

Next to the fireplace in the studio hangs a preparatory work for Carl Sundt-Hansen's famous painting "A Funeral on Board" from 1890, which today hangs in the Nasjonal Gallery in Oslo. 

Carl Frederik Sundt-Hansen (1841-1907), Stavanger painter, childhood friend of Kitty Kielland and Alexander Kielland

Sundt-Hansen was a close acquaintance of Drachmann and in 1895 they painted together "Daughter of the Sea", showing a mermaid on the shore while a ship on the horizon is in distress at sea. 

Sundt-Hansen was to take care of the female figure and Drachmann, who was a marine painter, was to take care of the sky and sea. 

The painting was intended for Drachmann's patron, publisher Jacob Hegel, but in 1906, it was still hanging in the studio of Pax in Skagen. Where it is today, I do not know. 

"A Funeral on Board" is Sundt-Hansen's main work (there is a postcard in the drawer of the dining room where the work is pictured). 

It depicts the ship's captain who has died, and the wife who is sailing with him stands as a grieving widow by the coffin, which is wrapped in the Swedish-Norwegian Union flag.

There is a dense atmosphere of grief in the picture, with the crew reflecting the world on land in terms of many nationalities and ages. 

Holger Drachmann had a poem with the same title published in the Illustrated Family Journal in 1896. The 5th verse of the poem describes the mood very well: 

There were no carriages, no organ playing - 

A circle of weather-beaten men watched, 

and every man thought: tomorrow that day

"Who will be adorned with the ship's flag?

Negro, mulatto and the old boys, 

Who toil for bread and sail for hire, 

the young who sail for pleasure. 

They all thought: me or you?

Kilde: Poul Bernt i Drachmann & Drachmanns Hus (Lamberth)

Platte

Plate

Plate on the occasion of Holger Drachmann's 60th birthday 1906

 Fluctuat nec mergitur = swings, but does not sink

Motto of the city of Paris 

FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR is the inscription on the plate from the Norwegian porcelain factory Porsgrund, which was made to commemorate Drachmann's 60th birthday. The motto, which translates as 'It rocks but does not sink', is best known from the Paris coat of arms, but Georg Brandes also used it to characterise the birthday boy in the speech he gave to Drachmann at the 60th birthday celebrations at Copenhagen Town Hall.

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluctuat_nec_mergitur

Denne temmelig store tekop med underkop findes i Drachmanns hus. 

Teksten på koppen er norsk: "Mor sjøl i stua", hvilket på norsk betyder "husets frue"

Altså må den formodes at være Soffis (hun var jo også norsk) 

Porcelænet er fra norske Porsgrund Porcelænfabrik

Tilsvarende kopper sælges på internet auktioner for omkring NOK 250,00

This rather large teacup with saucer is found in Drachmann's house. 

The text on the cup is Norwegian: "Mor sjøl i stua", which in Norwegian means "the lady of the house".

So it must be Soffi's (she was also Norwegian) 

The porcelain is from the Norwegian Porsgrund Porcelain Factory

Similar cups are sold on internet auctions for about NOK 250,00