Paul Gustav Fischer: The Royal Theatre Ballet School, Copenhagen, 1889 (detail)

Paul Gustav Fischer (1860-1934) was a Danish painter born in Copenhagen. He began to paint when he was still young, guided by his father, and his formal art education lasted only a short time in his mid teens when he spent two years at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. After a stay in Paris from 1891-1895, his colours became richer and lighter, combining the influence of French artists such as Jean Béraud, and of leading Impressionist painters such as Gustave Caillebotte and Edgar Degas.

It was not long before Fischer gained fame as a painter of cities, not just Copenhagen, but scenes from Scandinavia, Italy and Germany, reaching his zenith between 1890 and 1910. He benefited from contemporaries in Norway and Sweden, especially Carl Larsson. Around this time he also painted bright, sunny bathing scenes, some with nude women, and developed an interest in posters, inspired by Théophile Steinlen and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

The Royal Theatre Ballet School shows violinist Busch, the ballerina Charlotte Weihe (standing centre foreground) and the ballet master Emil Hansen, seated on the right.

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HC-1121: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)