MURA · THE COLLECTION · VIGGO JOHANSEN

An Evening at Home

An Evening at Home is an oil painting by Viggo Johansen from 1899, catalogued by the National Gallery of Denmark (SMK) in Copenhagen as An Evening Party in the Artist's Home. It measures 127 by 189 cm, is signed "V. Johansen 1899.", and was bought by the museum the year it was painted, as inventory number KMS1632.

Viggo Johansen · 1899 · Oil on canvas · Danish painting · story written 25 September 2026

What you are looking at

Mura's catalogue entry describes lamplight gathering friends around a table while the surrounding room falls into soft shadow. The friends are real people. SMK's record lists the persons depicted: the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi and his wife Ida Hammershøi, Karl Madsen, Harald Høffding, Johansen's wife Martha Johansen, and Ane Grethe Anthonsen. The museum's biography of Johansen says that in this picture and in Mellem kunstnere (1902-03) the psychological play between the people present, all portraits of his circle of friends, is resolved in an intimate and relaxed composition.

How it was painted

The picture is oil on canvas. According to SMK's biography, Johansen's earliest work depended on the older Danish tradition of Marstrand, Roed and Vermehren. He first visited Skagen in 1875, encouraged, according to Wikipedia, by his fellow students Karl Madsen and Michael Ancher, and in 1880 he married Martha Møller, a cousin of Anna Ancher. In Paris in 1885 he saw Impressionism at first hand, and at Skagen his palette grew lighter. After settling permanently in Copenhagen in 1890 his preferred subject became figures in an interior, often his wife and children. SMK singles out An Evening Party in the Artist's Home for its masterly handling of subdued, atmospheric lighting effects.

Johansen was born in Copenhagen on 3 January 1851 and studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1868 to 1875. He taught at the Academy's school for women from 1888 to 1906 and was then a professor there until 1920. He died in Copenhagen on 18 December 1935.

Where it went

SMK bought the painting in 1899 and catalogued it as KMS1632. It appears in the museum's 1917 catalogue of the Danish collection as number 333. Most recently it toured with the exhibition Hos mig: Skagensmaleren Viggo Johansen, shown at Den Hirschsprungske Samling, Ribe Kunstmuseum and Skagens Museum between February 2025 and April 2026. The record states that it is not currently on display.

Why it is in Mura

The painting is part of Mura's Nordic Light collection with the mood warm: a lamplit table, a circle of friends, and a room that fades gently into shadow.