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The Most Famous

PAINTERS from Denmark

This page contains a list of the greatest Danish Painters. The pantheon dataset contains 1,421 Painters, 27 of which were born in Denmark. This makes Denmark the birth place of the 15th most number of Painters behind Switzerland and Austria.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Danish Painters of all time. This list of famous Danish Painters is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Danish Painters.

1. Lili Elbe (1882 - 1931)

With an HPI of 72.62, Lili Elbe is the most famous Danish Painter. Her biography has been translated into 43 different languages on wikipedia.

Lili Ilse Elvenes (28 December 1882 – 13 September 1931), better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter, transgender woman, and one of the earliest recipients of sex reassignment surgery (gender-affirming surgery). She was a painter under her birth name Einar Wegener. After transitioning in 1930, she changed her legal name to Lili Ilse Elvenes, stopped painting, and later adopted the surname Elbe. She was the first known recipient of a uterus transplant in an attempt to achieve pregnancy, but died due to the subsequent complications. The UK and US versions of her semi-autobiographical narrative were published posthumously in 1933 under the title Man into Woman: An Authentic Record of a Change of Sex. A film inspired by her life, The Danish Girl, was released in 2015. An opera based on her life, Lili Elbe, composed by Tobias Picker, premiered in 2023.

2. Gerda Wegener (1886 - 1940)

With an HPI of 66.86, Gerda Wegener is the 2nd most famous Danish Painter. Her biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Gerda Marie Fredrikke Wegener (née Gottlieb; 15 March 1886 – 28 July 1940) was a Danish illustrator and painter. Wegener is known for her fashion illustrations and later her paintings that pushed the boundaries of her time concerning gender and love. These works were classified as lesbian erotica at times and many were inspired by her partner, transgender painter Lili Elbe. Wegener employed these works in the styles of Art Nouveau and later Art Deco.

3. Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark (1656 - 1693)

With an HPI of 64.96, Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark is the 3rd most famous Danish Painter. Her biography has been translated into 36 different languages.

Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark (11 September 1656 – 26 July 1693) was Queen of Sweden as the wife of King Charles XI. She is often admired for her generosity and charity. The name Ulrike is a Danish version of the name; in Swedish she is called Ulrika Eleonora den äldre (English: Ulrica Eleanor the Elder), to distinguish her from her daughter, the future queen regnant.

4. Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864 - 1916)

With an HPI of 63.10, Vilhelm Hammershøi is the 4th most famous Danish Painter. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Vilhelm Hammershøi (), often anglicised as Vilhelm Hammershoi (15 May 1864 – 13 February 1916), was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, subdued portraits and interiors.

5. Nicolai Abildgaard (1743 - 1809)

With an HPI of 60.98, Nicolai Abildgaard is the 5th most famous Danish Painter. His biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard (11 September 1743 – 4 June 1809) was a Danish neoclassical and royal history painter, sculptor, architect, and professor of painting, mythology, and anatomy at the New Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen, Denmark. Many of his works were in the royal Christiansborg Palace (some destroyed by fire 1794), Fredensborg Palace, and Levetzau Palace at Amalienborg.

6. Anna Ancher (1859 - 1935)

With an HPI of 59.51, Anna Ancher is the 6th most famous Danish Painter. Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Anna Ancher (18 August 1859 – 15 April 1935) was a Danish artist associated with the Skagen Painters, an artist colony on the northern point of Jylland, Denmark. She is considered to be one of Denmark's greatest visual artists.

7. Kurt Westergaard (1935 - 2021)

With an HPI of 58.51, Kurt Westergaard is the 7th most famous Danish Painter. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Kurt Westergaard (born Kurt Vestergaard; 13 July 1935 – 14 July 2021) was a Danish cartoonist. In 2005 he drew a cartoon of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, wearing a bomb in his turban as a part of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, which triggered several assassinations and murders committed by Muslim extremists around the world, diplomatic conflicts, and state-organized riots and attacks on Western embassies with several dead in Muslim countries. After the drawing of the cartoon, Westergaard received numerous death threats and was a target of assassination attempts. As a result, he was under constant police protection.

8. Michael Ancher (1849 - 1927)

With an HPI of 58.45, Michael Ancher is the 8th most famous Danish Painter. His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Michael Peter Ancher (9 June 1849 – 19 September 1927) was a Danish realist artist, and widely known for his paintings of fishermen, the Skagerak and the North Sea, and other scenes from the Danish fishing community in Skagen.

9. Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783 - 1853)

With an HPI of 58.22, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg is the 9th most famous Danish Painter. His biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (2 January 1783 – 22 July 1853) was a Danish painter. He was born in Blåkrog in the Duchy of Schleswig (now in Aabenraa Municipality, in the southern part of Jutland in Denmark). He went on to lay the foundation for the period of art known as the Golden Age of Danish Painting, and is referred to as the "Father of Danish painting".

10. Carl Bloch (1834 - 1890)

With an HPI of 57.92, Carl Bloch is the 10th most famous Danish Painter. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Carl Heinrich Bloch (Danish pronunciation: [ˈkʰɑːˀl ˈplɒk]; 23 May 1834 – 22 February 1890) was a Danish artist.

People

Pantheon has 27 people classified as painters born between 1656 and 1938. Of these 27, none of them are still alive today. The most famous deceased painters include Lili Elbe, Gerda Wegener, and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark. As of April 2022, 5 new painters have been added to Pantheon including Paul Gustav Fischer, Christian August Lorentzen, and Jens Ferdinand Willumsen.