Pupil of A. Hellesen and C.V Nielsen. Educated at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1873. Henningsen was one of the leading artists in Danish naturalism during the 1880ties. Together with the artists Holger Drachmann and Christian Krohoklg, Henningsen changed the Romanism in art and chose his motifs and scenes as if he was reporting for a newspaper. Henningen works often depictured grim realism like paupers being thrown our of their homes, trial scenes with murders and other sad situations in the human life. Henningsen wanted to be objective in his works and used great effort to depict each situation as accurate as possible.
This let Henningsen to work with a new point of view that made the audience feel they participated in his works, for example: a flower shop scene seen from the florists point of view. This new angle often caused great debate since the works changed from being a piece of art into a manner of provocation. The works encouraged ideas and action instead of just being something pretty to behold. Henningesen worked primarily in Scandinavia but he also traveled and worked in Germany, Italy, France and the Nederland’s from 1892.
Exhibitions:
Charlottenborg: 1879-1931.
International Art Exhibition, Wienna:1882.
The world fair in Paris: 1889.
International Art exhibition, Berlin: 1892.
Munich: 1892.
Nord Art Exhibition, Lübech: 1895.
City Hall: 1901.
Glaspalast, Munich: 1909.
Gallery Bergenholz: 1922-1923.
The National gallery of arts, Copenhagen: 1930, 1961.
Auction Results:
Erik Henningsen is listed in artprice.com. His oils has been sold for $37,000.
(Bruun Rasmussun, Copenhagen. 06-06-2004. Lot no: 1496 )
Øbro Art Gallery 