Double portrait of royal actor Emil Poulsen (1842-1911) and his wife Anna, born Næser (1849-1934)

Peder Severin Krøyer's 1885 double portrait of the actor Emil Poulsen and his wife Anna is one of his major formal portraits of the period — a work that celebrates one of the most distinguished figures in Danish theatrical life. Emil Poulsen was a leading actor at the Royal Danish Theatre, acclaimed for his Shakespeare interpretations, and a portrait by Krøyer conferred significant cultural prestige. The double portrait format, showing husband and wife together, gave Krøyer the opportunity to explore the relationship between two individuals as both a compositional and psychological challenge.

Krøyer organizes the double portrait with characteristic elegance — the two figures related to each other spatially and psychologically without rigid symmetry. His handling is assured and direct, with the faces given careful modeling and the backgrounds broadly treated. The characteristic blue tint in the shadow areas is present throughout.