The Wick List

Viewing Anna Ancher: Painting Light at Dulwich Picture Gallery

The Wick Culture - Anna Ancher, A Field Sermon, 1903. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

Above Anna Ancher, A Field Sermon, 1903. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

The Wick Culture - Anna Ancher, A Girl in the Garden in Summertime. Skagen, 1914. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

Above Anna Ancher, A Girl in the Garden in Summertime. Skagen, 1914. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

The Wick Culture - Anna Ancher, Interior. Brøndum's Annex, 1916. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

Above Anna Ancher, Interior. Brøndum’s Annex, 1916. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

The Wick Culture - Anna Ancher, Sunlight in the blue room, 1891. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Skagens Museum

Above Anna Ancher, Sunlight in the blue room, 1891. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Skagens Museum

The Wick Culture - Anna Ancher, The Maid in the Kitchen, 1883 – 1886. Courtesy of The Hirschsprung Collection

Above Anna Ancher, The Maid in the Kitchen, 1883 – 1886. Courtesy of The Hirschsprung Collection

Above Anna Ancher, A Field Sermon, 1903. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

Above Anna Ancher, A Girl in the Garden in Summertime. Skagen, 1914. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

Above Anna Ancher, Interior. Brøndum’s Annex, 1916. Courtesy of Skagens Museum.

Above Anna Ancher, Sunlight in the blue room, 1891. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Skagens Museum

Above Anna Ancher, The Maid in the Kitchen, 1883 – 1886. Courtesy of The Hirschsprung Collection

Anna Ancher: Painting Light

Dulwich Picture Gallery
4 Nov — 8 Mar 2026

Anna Ancher: Painting Light is the first major UK exhibition dedicated to the Danish painter Anna Ancher (1859–1935) and features over 40 paintings drawn from Danish institutions such as the Skagens Museum and the Hirschsprung Collection, moving from Ancher’s early realist works to later, more experimental treatments of light and form, showing how she masterfully bridged academic traditions and modernist impulses.

Ancher grew up in the fishing village of Skagen, where she became the only native member of the celebrated “Skagen Painters” community. Her work is characterised by a profound attention to light: in interiors, in everyday domestic scenes, and in the rugged Danish landscape. The exhibition emphasises how light becomes almost a character in its own right in her paintings—whether it’s the shimmering afternoon rays in Sunlight in the Blue Room or the pale northern glow of Skagen’s coast.

While widely celebrated in Denmark, Ancher remains relatively unknown in the UK. This exhibition addresses that gap, offering British audiences a chance to discover her bold use of colour, her sensitive portrayals of interior life, and her quietly radical position as a woman artist forging an international career at a time when women faced staunch constraints. Illuminating and contemplative, it’s the perfect show for the winter season.