Danish Painter Niels Strobek

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… and this is an occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist.

The Craftman’s Handbook ”Il Libro dell’ Arte”
Cennino Cennini 
(c.1370 – c.1440)

Niels Strøbek Niels Strobek

BATHSEBA. 2007. Oil on canvas. 153 x 136 cm.

Niels Strøbek Niels StrobekSISTERS. 2007. Oil on canvas. 165 x 110 cm

Niels Strøbek Niels Strobek

MALE PORTRAIT. 1993. Oil on canvas. 92 x 65 cm.

“Reality, which I previously felt I had reduced to a hostile slave of art, now became again a familiar ally which showed a limitless space where even the least component was waiting to be observed, understood, and interpreted. I now understood the significance of this insight. I had dedicated myself to painting it. The flat field of the painting became a precious, refined instrument that I aspired to use to express even the faintest sign of reality.”                          Niels Strobek

As I looked through images of Strobek’s paintings on his official website, I chose to include the first two above because of the similarity of the two settings and the woman on the right is the same woman in both paintings. I included the portrait of the young man because when I saw the second painting, Sisters, I had to look back and check similarities on the left woman’s face with the face, as I remembered it, of the young man in the much earlier painting.

Do we live in a complicated world without any unifying feature? Do we live in a complicated world with one unifying design? Is our world simple and completely visible, or simple and largely mysterious? In our current environment, a myriad of possible explanations are available, many answers for any question. The quote at the top of the page is taken from the homepage of Strobek’s website. It holds a nice tension and contrast from the older quote (above) taken from the artist himself, referring to his painting, The Three, a print of which is found in the book, Danish painting 1870-1985: catalogue, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek / by Vera Rasmussen and Susanne Thestrup Truelsen.

images-4THE THREE. 1970. Oil and tempera on board. 110 x 150 cm. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

One thought on “Danish Painter Niels Strobek”

  1. Olivia Frey

    What I like most about this blog is how accessible art becomes–how within reach these paintings and artists are–for someone like me who does not have very much good visual art in my world.–unless I visit a museum, at which time I am overwhelmed.
    Strobeck’s paintings are extraordinary–and very vivid in the reproductions here. I want to like him. But my own critical eye sees such striking differences between the male portrait and the females. The male with many more lines and edges and shadows–more complex. Why I like Rossetti–the women’s hands.

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