The artist's Wife

Eilif Peterssen's portrait of the artist's wife belongs to the intimate portrait tradition that runs through Scandinavian art — the painter's closest subject depicted with the particular combination of familiarity and professional attention that distinguishes spousal portraiture from commissioned works. Peterssen's wife was presumably a figure in the Norwegian artistic community he inhabited, and the portrait documents both their personal relationship and his portrait practice. The painter's wife as subject allowed him to work without social pressure, exploring his portrait approach with maximum freedom.

Peterssen's handling of his wife's portrait likely reflects the informal intimacy of their relationship — a directness of observation and a freedom of approach not always possible in commissioned portraiture. His Munich-trained technique provides the technical foundation, but the personal relationship to the subject gives the portrait its particular quality of psychological presence. The composition focuses on the face as the center of their shared knowledge of each other.