Johannes Larsen (1867–1961)
Rainy Day, 1938
Pen and watercolour on paper

Watercolour was among the many techniques that Johannes Larsen mastered, and he enjoyed great acclaim for his skill among audiences and art critics alike. Having learned the technique in his youth, he would return to it periodically throughout his life, for example when creating the illustrations for a three-volume encyclopaedia on the birds of Denmark (1925–1931). Johannes Larsen’s interest in watercolour flourished in the years around 1938, and it played a prominent role in his late production, often combined with pen and ink, serving either as a basis or as finishing touches to the watercolours.¹

The David Collection owns seven works by Johannes Larsen, five of which are watercolours, including Rainy Day. The scene was painted at the Filsø lake on a day when the sky was still heavy with dark clouds. The wide gravel road, flanked by fence posts and power lines, effectively directs the gaze diagonally towards the right side of the picture, where a farmhouse appears. However, the landscape is not marked by human activity. Johannes Larsen even omitted to paint in any of the wildlife he was generally so fond of observing and reproducing – and which one would reasonably expect to find in this nature. Instead, he has created a meditative image in which the landscape elements – earth, water (puddles) and sky – evoke a mood infused by the calm following a heavy rain.