Johannes Larsen, Fritz Syberg and Peter Hansen played a crucial role in the Museum’s establishment. They sat on the Museum’s purchasing committee, were responsible for curating the work and they were also the most prominent artists represented in the collection.
All three of them had originally come from Funen and they also all attended the anti-establishment Artists’ Free Studio School lead by Kristian Zahrtmann in Copenhagen.
Johannes Larsen came from Kerteminde, a coastal town in north-eastern Funen where his father was a greengrocer and where Larsen remained throughout his life. In 1901-2 he set up home with his wife Alhed (née Warberg) at Møllebakken, Kerteminde. He painted with a distinct sensitivity for colour and detail but also with a keen realism.
He painted birds in various habitats: in the Faaborg Museum works such as Bygevejr i April (April Shower) (1901-07) and Knortegæs. Regntykning (Brent Geese) (1908) are amongst his most important paintings.
Fritz Syberg was born in Faaborg into poverty and came as an apprentice craftsman to Peter Hansen’s father, Peter Syrak Hansen. Here he met Anna (née Hansen) whom he married. The couple lived first in Svanninge just outside Faaborg and later moved to Kerteminde.
Amongst Syberg’s works are the lyrical Aftenleg i Svanninge Bakker (Evening Play in the Svanninge Hills) (1900) and the more energetic Børnene bader (The Children Bathing) (1908) both paintings are in the Faaborg Museum.
From childhood Peter Hansen divided his time between Faaborg and Copenhagen. His father’s workshop in Faaborg was a rallying point for the ‘Funen Painters’ but modern city living also attracted him. He was at home in both places. Irrespective of the theme he selected, rural or urban, his painting is characterised by a certain rapport with colour, light and movement.
Faaborg Museum has his most important works such as Pløjemanden vender (The Ploughman Turns) (1902), Legende børn på Enghave Plads (Children Playing at Enghave Plads, Copenhagen) (1907-08) and Høstbillede (Harvest) (1910).
