Born: 11 June 1867, Denmark
Died: 25 May 1940
Country most active: Denmark
Also known as: Marie Triepcke Krøyer Alfvén, Marie Triepcke
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Danish painter Marie Krøyer’s first marriage was to Peder Severin Krøyer, one of the most famous painters in Danish history. Marie met and married Peder when she was just twenty-two; he was sixteen years her senior. In the course of their whirlwind romance, he did not mention either his family history of mental illness or the fact that he had syphilis. Peder also appears to have suffered from bipolar disorder, swinging between mania and depression, which strained their marriage to the point of divorce. He was reportedly dismissive of the tuition she received when she was younger, as being for “young lady painters,” which hints at a disregard for women artists in general, and there is little evidence he ever encouraged Marie in her own artistic ambitions. She is known to have suffered from self-doubt in her own abilities, which was no doubt exacerbated by being married to such a highly regarded artist when she had not yet had a chance to establish her own career. His many paintings of her may have contributed to a perception of her as only his model and muse, rather than an artist in her own right. While the exact cause is unclear, Marie stopped painting during her marriage. It was not until after her daughter’s death in 1986 that Marie’s own art gained recognition, as her paintings were among the estate and were eventually collected by the Skagens Museum in Skagen, Denmark.