Evening sky. Overcast

Evening sky. Overcast (1873) by Peder Severin Krøyer, now in the collection of Skagen, exploits the dramatic lighting conditions of a specific time of day, a subject that became increasingly central to Impressionist and Tonalist painters' investigation of atmospheric light. Peder Severin Krøyer was the most prominent painter of the Skagen artists' colony, a group of Scandinavian naturalist painters who gathered at Denmark's northernmost tip in the 1880s attracted by the exceptional quality of light where two seas meet.

Krøyer painted with fluid, confident brushwork that captures the distinctive quality of Scandinavian summer light — blue-toned, diffuse, and uniquely luminous. His beach scenes at Skagen employ a fresh, open palette of pale blues, white sands, and golden evening light.