A swirling post-impressionistic oil on canvas by Danish artist, Michel Bang-Sorensen (1884-1961). It’s full of early 20th-century expression and the landscape feels animated and vibrant.

Bang-Sorensen has applied the paint quite thickly in areas to give the piece some texture and the style is surely influenced by the French post-impressionists.

He trained at the Art Academy in Copenhagen under Otto Bache and landscape painter Viggo Johansen. Both were fairly traditional in their approach so it’s interesting to consider how Bang-Sorensen became so adventurous. In around 1920 he visited Paris - so perhaps this study trip had a profound effect on him.

The painting is signed in the lower left and housed within a frame that’s probably the original.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 24½” x 20½” / 62cm x 52cm
Year of creation: c. 1925
Provenance: Denmark
Condition: Craquelure throughout but the paint layer seems stable. Canvas a little undulant partly due to the thickness of the paint. Frame with some losses and age-related wear.