Harbour scene with ships.

Christian Blache's harbor scene with ships (1888) belongs to his extensive documentation of Danish ports and their commercial maritime activity. Harbor subjects allowed him to combine his interests in vessel documentation — the specific types and conditions of the ships — with the atmospheric possibilities of the port environment: the quality of harbor water, the varying light conditions, and the complex visual organization of masts, rigging, and hulls that made harbor scenes such visually rich subjects.

Blache renders the harbor environment with the technical accuracy that characterized all his marine subjects — the specific vessel types, their rigging conditions, and their placement within the harbor organized with knowledge of actual maritime practice. His atmospheric handling of harbor water and sky creates the environmental context for the vessels. The complex overlapping of masts and rigging in a crowded harbor requires careful compositional management.