Vilhelm Kyhn was a visual artist born in 1819 in Copenhagen to Carl Gottlieb Kyhn and his wife Sara Marie. Early on he trained with copperplate engraver Georg Hoffmann. Here he learned to make vignettes, a skill which became useful to him later when he learned to make etchings.

     He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1836. He entered the School of Plaster Model Painting in 1840, and into the School of Model Painting in 1841, where he was influenced by the classicism of teacher Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg and J. L. Lund.

     Kyhn became part of the landscape movement in the 1840s and exhibited his first landscape, "A View of the Beach on Bornholm." The painting was purchased by the Danish Royal Painting Collection (now the National Gallery of Denmark). In 1845 Kyhn won a prize in the Neuhausen Competition.  

     In the spring of 1850 the artist traveled to the Netherlands, Belgium, Paris, and reached Italy in September of the same year. In 1853 he was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of The Danish Etchers Union (Den danske Radeerforening).

     During the period 1871−1879 Kyhn’s art studio became a gathering place for a group of young, dissatisfied artists and Academy students called "The Den Academy" (the Huleakademiet), which eventually led to the formation of The Artists' Independent Studio Schools in 1882.

     From 1865−1895, he also operated the Painting School for Women (Tegneskolen for Kvinder), at a time when women did not have access to the Academy. More than 75 women trained under him, including Anna Ancher, Ville Bang, Johanne Krebs, Emilie Mundt, Marie Luplau, Emmy Thornam, Elise Konstantin-Hansen, Nicoline Tuxen, and Margrethe Backer Welhaven.

     In 1900 he received the bronze medallion at the Paris Exhibition. A major retrospective of the artist works was held from 2012−2014 at Randers Museum of Art, Fuglsang Museum of Art, Ribe Museum of Art, and HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

• The Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge

• Tthe National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo

• National Museum in Stockholm

• The British Museum

• Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery)

• The Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University

• AROS - Aarhus Kunstmuseum

• Bornholms Kunstmuseum

• BRANDTS - (Painting) Museum for kunst & visuel kultur

• Den Hirschsprungske Samling

• Fuglsang Art Museum

• Horsens Art Museum

• Copenhagen art Museum

• Museum Jorn

• Museum Sønderjylland (Kunstmuseet Brundlund Slot)

• Museum Vestsjælland (Odsherred Kunst)

• Museum Østjylland - Kulturhistorisk Museum Randers

• Ordrupgaard Museum

• Randers Kunstmuseum

• Ribe Kunstmuseum

• Rudersdal Museer

• Skagens Museum

• Skovgaard Museet

• Sorø Kunstmuseum

• Vejlemuseerne (Kunst)