With his images of bathing boys, powerful ploughmen, and playing children Peter Hansen has created paintings that are easily inscribed into the Vitalistic art of the period. PLAYING CHILDREN in particular is no less ambitious than Willumsen’s A MOUNTAINEER. In this dynamic composition with its close croppings and flickering specks of light, an undulating chain of girls represent Hansen’s take on the hope for revival offered by the new century.
In Willumsen, health, vitality, and youth became something visionary – here, they are treated rather closer to reality. The scene takes place in an area of Copenhagen where Hansen found most of his urban motifs. He depicted modern life with a commitment to social issues, and he had a keen eye for both the idyllic and for the injustices of life.
