Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “P. S. Krøyer 1851–1909”, 1910 no. 221.

Provenance: Merchant, factory owner Chr. Hasselbalch (1923).

The painting here is one of several different studies for the final work from 1892. This one with the measurements 132×198 cm and owned by count Julius Andrassy in Budapest in both 1910 and 1923. The painting later disappeared, while studies for the iconic work from time to time are sold at auctions, like the present one. Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers has sold some of these, most recently “Nøgen Dreng, set fra højre Side i Løb paa Sandet ud mod Vandet” (Naked boy running on the beach towards the sea) which fetched a price of 1.000.000 DKK at BR auction 815, 2009 no. 15. The studies in the Catalogue Raisonné are almost all studies of details, focusing on special parts of the final composition, like for instance a running boy. The present work is different, being a more complete and balanced scene with the many boys playing in the sun. Besides, the painting has the unparalleled qualities that you expect from a good work by Krøyer: It is a motif from Skagen with the sun and the sea, the light is breathtaking, almost blinding, his beautiful bluish colour scale is used and in total it is an eminent evocation of a moment, catching the boy's movements here and now in the glinting whirling water. Unsurprisingly, some of the studies can be seen at Danish museums, such as Skagens Museum, Den Hirschsprungske Samling and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.