The ultimate absolute best of SMK OPEN 2020
The SMK Online collection, codename (and real name) SMK OPEN, has been live for the entirety of this bizarre year. And because nothing calms the soul like a simplistic list here’s… the most viewed artworks of 2020!
Number 1: Starting from the absolute top, the winner by a significant margin is Danish artist Erik Henningsen’s solemn painting Evicted Tenants from 1892. Much-loved by Danish high-school teachers, the popularity of this painting very much follows the school year.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS1454
Number 2: An absolute SMK highlight, Danish painter and master of the silent interior, Vilhelm Hammershøi’s Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor from 1901. BTW art educator Peter Kær is currently doing a video series on this very painting, and here’s episode one.
Status: Public Domain
More info at: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS3696
Number 3: Another Erik Henningsen, A Wounded Workman from 1894–1895 also shows a concern for the conditions of the poor.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS1506
Number 4: P.C. Skovgaard’s A Beech Wood in May near Iselingen Manor, Zealand from 1857 is a romantic scene from the Danish “Golden Age” of painting, where the forests were greener and the trees were taller.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS4580
Number 5: We remain squarely within the Golden Age with Christen Købke’s A View of Lake Sortedam from Dosseringen Looking towards the Suburb Nørrebro outside Copenhagen from 1838.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS359
Number 6: Danish painter H.C. Brendekilde completed his realistic, and modestly titled People by a Road in 1893.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS1468
Number 7: The path leads you around the sunny Danish countryside in Johan Thomas Lundbye’s A Croft at Lodskov near Vognserup Manor, Zealand from 1846–1847.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS1644
Number 8: Here we find the seemingly symbol-laden Mendel Levin Nathanson’s Elder Daughters, Bella and Hanna from 1820 by Danish Golden Age father figure C.W. Eckersberg.
Status: Public Domain
More info at: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS3498
Number 9: A (social) realist classic of the so-called “modern breakthrough” – P.S. Krøyer’s The Iron Foundry, Burmeister and Wain from 1885.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS3605
Number 10: Finally, a piece of mannerist extravaganza — Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem’s The Fall of the Titans from 1588–1590.
Status: Public Domain
More info: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KMS1
And so, our countdown is complete. Our reductionist list shows a distinctive pattern: If the people have spoken, they have asked for “SMK classic” material, realistic paintings from the Golden Age period (and nearby). The material shows a long-tail distribution as our Number 1 above only accounts for around 2% of all artwork views — and the entire Top 10 only contributes about 8,2% of all views.
And with that, the entire SMK OPEN team wishes you a great new year with high hopes for 2021. See you there!
