The Men of Industry
A group portrait of Danish scientists and industrialists debating in front of Copenhagen's new power station — modernity made monumental.
Østre Elektricitetsværk
The painting shows a real, identified place that you can find today. The exact spot the artist worked from is not necessarily known.
The Men of Industry — at a glance
- Artist
- Peder Severin Krøyer (1851–1909)
- Year
- 1903–1904
- Movement
- Danish Naturalism / group portraiture
- Place
- Outside the Østre Elektricitetsværk, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Viewpoint
- A forecourt before the power station — the original building has been demolished and the site redeveloped
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- c. 337 × 545 cm
- Now at
- Museum of National History, Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød
Overview
The Men of Industry is a monumental group portrait by Peder Severin Krøyer, painted in 1903–04. More than fifty of the leading figures of Danish science, engineering and industry — including the brewer Carl Jacobsen, the physicist and engineers behind Denmark's new infrastructure — stand and talk in animated groups on a paved forecourt, against the brick bulk and chimneys of a power station. It is oil on canvas, very large (about 337 by 545 cm), and it hangs in the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød.
Where was The Men of Industry painted?
Scholarship The building behind the men is the Østre Elektricitetsværk (Eastern Power Station) on the Copenhagen harbour front, one of the city's first large electricity works, a red-brick industrial hall with tall chimneys. It was chosen as the setting precisely because it stood for the new technological age the sitters had built. The original power station has since been demolished and the site redeveloped, so the backdrop no longer exists; the harbour location is now modern city.
What is in the painting?
On a broad paved area, dozens of men in dark suits and top hats or bowlers stand in clusters, several in vigorous conversation, gesturing, one lot around a plan or a piece of equipment. Behind and above them, the long red-brick front of the power station with round-headed windows, and two or three great chimneys rising against a pale sky. The light is clear and even.
Look closely
The conversational knots
The men stand in linked groups, several arguing and gesturing, one lot around a plan or a machine part.
The brick power station
The long red-brick façade with round-headed windows and tall chimneys — the sitters' symbolic ‘hall’.
The individual faces
Each of the fifty-plus portraits is carefully distinguished.
Analysis
Composition and technique
A frieze of standing, talking figures across the foreground, with the industrial building as a deliberate monumental backdrop.
Scholarship Krøyer arranges the many portraits in linked conversational knots so the eye moves along the group, each face carefully individualised, and sets the whole against the plain, grand brick façade and chimneys — making the point that these men and this machinery belong together.
Meaning and interpretation
Interpretations differ. What the artist documented, what museums and scholars propose, and later or speculative theories are marked and kept separate.
A monument to progress
The picture is an unabashed celebration of Danish industrial and scientific achievement at the turn of the century, giving the engineers and manufacturers the collective, dignified group-portrait treatment traditionally reserved for guilds, officers or academics — with a power station as their ‘hall’.
History & provenance
The painting was made for, and is in, the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, a museum of Danish portraiture and history.
Sources
- Det Nationalhistoriske Museum på Frederiksborg Slot, Hillerød — collection entry for P. S. Krøyer, ‘Industriens mænd’ (1903–04)
- Skagens Museum / SMK literature on Krøyer's group portraits
Frequently asked
Who are the men in the painting?
More than fifty leading Danish scientists, engineers and industrialists of around 1900, including the brewer Carl Jacobsen and the figures behind Denmark's new power, water and transport infrastructure.
What is the building behind them?
The Østre Elektricitetsværk (Eastern Power Station) on the Copenhagen harbour front, one of the city's first big electricity works — chosen as a symbol of the technological age the sitters had built.
Can you visit the setting?
No. The original power station has been demolished and the harbour site redeveloped; the backdrop no longer exists.
Why paint a group portrait outside a power station?
To give engineers and manufacturers the dignified collective portrait traditionally reserved for guilds or officers, with modern industry as their ‘hall’ — a monument to progress.
Where is the painting now?
In the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerød, Denmark.
Related paintings
The Night Watch
1642
Rembrandt's militia group portrait of 1642 — the collective portrait tradition Krøyer updates for engineers.
A Cotton Office in New Orleans
1873
Degas's businessmen at work of 1873 — commerce as a modern group subject.
Bazille's Studio
1870
Bazille's artists' group of 1870 — another circle portrayed in its own working setting.
More by Peder Severin Krøyer
