PLEIN AIR HERITAGE
The Danish artist Paul Gustave Fischer had an unusual opportunity to learn about painting from his father, who was both an artist and a manufacturer of paints and lacquers. His earliest paintings were influenced by his father and his teachers at the Royal Danish Academy, as well as the young Danish naturalists gaining attention at the time. Fischer’s paintings changed dramatically after a four-year stay in Paris (1891-1895), during which he gained a greater appreciation for plein air painting, a brighter palette, and a looser application of oil colors. This painting of a friend resting in a wooded setting was created before Fischer’s time in Paris. The grasses and trees have a gestured quality that suggests they were painted completely outdoors, but the detailed rendering of the figure, easel, and painting…