IAN SWANKIE

At the end of the 19^th century, the small fishing village of Skagen at the northern tip of Denmark became a thriving artists' colony.  Attracted by its dramatic setting, its fishing community and above all its distinctive light, artists gathered there from Scandinavia, Europe and beyond. Many concentrated on painting outdoors, applying methods and ideas developed by Barbizon and Impressionist painters earlier in the century. Others, like Anna Ancher, concentrated on interiors.  The most celebrated figure was the Danish painter Peder Severin Krøyer, who first came to Skagen in 1882 and became increasingly fascinated by the 'blue hour' of northern summer nights, when sea and sky appear to merge into a single luminous whole. His paintings, exhibited between the 1880s and early 1900s, helped make Skagen internationally famous as a centre of artistic modernity.

Kathy McLauchlan

Kathy graduated at Oxford University and the Courtauld Institute and later completed a PhD thesis on French painters in Rome during the 19^th century.  She's a freelance lecturer specialising in 19^th century art history. She has published catalogues and articles for the British Council and the Barbican Art Gallery. Kathy is currently a course director at the Victoria & Albert Museum, where she organises courses and study days on the history of art and design.