Paul Fischer was a visual artist born in 1860 in Copenhagen. He belonged to the fourth generation of a Jewish family which originally came from Poland. He came from an upper middle class family and was the son of Philip August Fischer and Gustafva Albertina Svedgren.

     Fischer began to paint when he was young, guided by his father. He was apprenticed for a year and a half at the terracotta manufacturer C. Møller and attended the Technical Institute to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where he took general preparatory class in 1876 but failed to complete the courses, leaving in January 1878. He worked from 1878−1888 at the father's factory and exhibited regularly at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition from 1884−1902.

     His earlier paintings depicted city life. For this reason, he has been called "Copenhagen's painter" (Københavns maler). In 1886, the same year the work above was completed, the artist married Norwegian Dagny Grønneberg, the daughter of art dealer Julius Grønneberg and painter Hulda Azora Tegner. This led to multiple trips to Norway and Sweden in the late 1880s.

      After a stay in Paris from 1891–1895, his colors became richer and lighter. Between 1894–1895 the artist also traveled to Germany, Italy, Nice and Paris.

It was not long before Fischer gained fame as a painter of cities, not just Copenhagen, but scenes from Scandinavia, Italy and Germany, reaching his zenith between 1890 and 1910.

     He benefited from contemporaries in Norway and Sweden, especially Carl Larsson and began painting bright, sunny bathing scenes, some with nude women. At this time he also developed an interest in posters, inspired by Théophile Steinlen and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

     During the period when he actively painted, Danish art was dominated by Laurits Tuxen. Yet when Sweden transferred the sovereignty of Norway back to the Norwegians, Fischer, rather than Tuxen, got the commission from the King of Norway to paint the event, thus affirming his status as a leading figure in Danish art.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

Copenhagen City Museum

• National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo

• The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Øregård Museum

• Varde Museum

• Carlsberg Museum

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