Title: Tuxens breve
Description: The painter Laurits Tuxen's life was rich in art, travel and work- but also on love. We know him from his magnificent paintings of Europe's royals, but his private life hides an equally exciting and not least touching tale of the engagement and marriage to Ursule de Baisieux, daughter of an arms dealer from Brussels. She actively and lovingly supported her husband's career, but died just as they were to reap the rewards of his hard work. The couple's many years of correspondence provide an insight into their innermost feelings, their hopes for the future and not least their desire to break with some of the contemporary perceptions of the good marriage. The letters open up new perspectives on the couple and help to create a multifaceted and unprecedented image of Laurits and Ursule as persons, he as an artist, she as a not entirely traditional artist's wife. The letters are collected and commented on by Marianne Abrahamsen, great-granddaughter of Laurits Tuxen. She puts the correspondence into a historical framework and thus gives a rare insight into the time around the year 1900, the great Danish artists from that time and not least a young married couple who in their own way tried to break with the norms of the time. Tuxen's Letters is a book for anyone with an interest in Danish art and in European history in the 19th and 20th centuries

Maleren Laurits Tuxens liv var rigt på kunst, rejser og arbejde - men også på kærlighed. Vi kender ham fra hans storslåede malerier af Europas kongelige, men hans privatliv gemmer på en lige så spændende og ikke mindst rørende fortælling om forlovelsen og ægteskabet med Ursule de Baisieux, datter af en våbenhandler fra Bruxelles bedre borgerskab. Hun støttede aktivt og kærligt sin mands karriere, men døde, netop som de skulle høste lønnen af hans arbejdsindsats. Parrets mangeårige korrespondance giver et indblik i deres inderste følelser, deres håb for fremtiden og ikke mindst deres ønske om at bryde med nogle af samtidens opfattelser af det gode ægteskab. Brevene åbner op for nye perspektiver på parret og er med til at skabe et mangefacetteret og hidtil ukendt billede af Laurits og Ursule som personer, han som kunstner, hun som en ikke helt traditionel kunstnerhustru. Brevene er samlet og kommenteret af Marianne Abrahamsen, oldebarn af Laurits Tuxen. Hun sætter korrespondancen ind i en historisk ramme og giver dermed et sjældent indblik i tiden omkring år 1900, de store danske kunstnere fra den tid samt ikke mindst et ungt ægtepar, der på hver deres måde forsøgte at bryde med tidens normer. Tuxens breve er en bog for alle med interesse i dansk kunst og i Europas historie i 1800- og 1900-tallet
Subjects: Dutch Painting
People: Laurits Tuxen (1853-1927)