Pharmacist Vagn Klæbel photographed Tuxen at the easel in the process of painting this painting (see photo p. 30). .

Provenance: Merchant W. P. Heyman, his estate auction Bruun Rasmussen 39, 1953 no. 84. Bruun Rasmussen auction 763, 2006 no. 2031 auctioned for a total amount of 1,500,000 DKK. Danish Private Collection.

“Sommerdag på Skagen Strand med Figurer” is something very special in the oeuvre of Tuxen, as his paintings of this size usually depict magnificent portraits of the royal and princely families of Europe. In this large painting Tuxen's daughters Yvonne and Nina are seen with presumably Krøyer's daughter Vibeke on the beach on a hot summer day. The inspiration from P. S. Krøyer's paintings is evident, since the whole focus of the painting is on light and naturalism. Tuxen was a close friend and fellow student of Krøyer and through this relationship Tuxen, despite his many trips abroad, became aware of the artistic development of the Danish art in the late 1800ies. The motifs changed. Interiors were replaced with exteriors, and on their canvases the artists tried to capture the original form of life between nature and man.

Curator at Fuglsang Kunstmuseum Gertrud Oelsner comments on this painting in the above mentioned exhibition catalogue p. 129 (in Danish): “The healing power of the air and the sea is evident and cannot fail to be seen. When Tuxen arrived in Skagen this was largely the topics of his compositions”. As in this painting where the three girls are portrayed after their swim in the sea.“The sun is high in the sky and bathes the wide beach in a glittering light, where the short shadows of the children indicate, that it is the middle of the day .”