Cows Being Driven across the Moor

Cows Being Driven across the Moor, painted in 1902 and now at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, shows the open heathland behind Skagen that the farming community used for grazing. Ancher was primarily known for his fishermen subjects but he observed all aspects of life in the Skagen community, including the small-scale cattle farming that supplemented the fishing economy. The moor — flat, exposed, marked by heather and coarse grass — was a characteristic feature of the Jutland landscape, and Ancher captures the specific quality of light and air over open heathland with the same fidelity he brought to his coastal subjects.

The low horizon typical of flat moorland gives the sky enormous prominence, Ancher using the broad expanse of pale blue and cloud to create atmosphere around the small figures of man, cows, and dog. His handling of the moorland's texture — the specific surface of heather and rough grass — differentiates it clearly from the sandy beach surfaces of his coastal work.