Musée d'Orsay.
Jens Ferdinand Willumsen was born in Copenhagen in 1863 but lived much of his life in France. After initial training in art at the Royal Academy of the Fine Arts in Copenhagen (1881-1885) and in architecture at the Copenhagen Technical College (1879-1882), he completed his education in 1885 in the Free Studios directed by the artist P.S. Krøyer (1851-1909). He also spent several sojourns in Paris: in 1888-1890, 1893-1894 and 1903-1904.
His works were exhibited in the Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts, the Salon des Artistes Indépendants, in the gallery run by Le Barc de Boutteville and at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. The piece selected for the Universal Exhibition – Jotunheim (Frederikssund, J.F. Willumsens Museum) - was an impressive creation, not only a great success for Willumsen but a masterpiece of Symbolist painting. The large mountain landscape was painted in 1892-1893 after a trip to Norway. Willumsen designed the frame himself: a series of low-relief allegorical figures cut out of zinc and painted.
