Painter Bertha Wegmann (2022)

Video (8:16): ‘Bertha Wegmann. At male på mange sprog’, a video about the retrospective exhibition about Danish painter Bertha Wegmann at the Hirschsprung Collection in Copenhagen, Denmark, Februar 9 – May 29, 2022.

[The copyright of the video above remains with the original holder and it is used here for the purpose of education, comparison and criticism only.]

Bertha Wegmann (1847-1926)

Bertha Wegmann a forgotten female painter, however she is the queen of Danish portrait painters in the 19th century. She studied in Germany and lived for 13 years in Munich where she met her significant other Swedish painter Jeanna Bauck (1940-1926). She took several study trips to Italy with Jeanne. In 1881, they moved to Paris where Wegmann exhibited at several salons and received an “honorable mention”. Later they split up. Wegmann returned to Copenhagen where she became the first woman to hold a chair at the Royal Danish Academy and Bauck returned to Munich but they kept in contact for the rest of their lives.
From 1987 through 1907, Bertha was a member of the board for the “Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder” (Drawing and Art Industrial School for Women). She continued to exhibit widely and represented Denmark at several world’s fairs, including the Chicago World’s Fair in Chicago, USA in 1893.