RING, Laurits Andersen
(b. 1854, Ring, d. 1933, Sankt Jørgensbjerg)

At the French Windows. The Artist's Wife

1897
Oil on canvas, 191 x 144 cm
Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen

The painter was married in 1896, the year before he painted this portrait of his wife, Sigrid Kähler (1874-1923). At that time he was 42, while she was 22. Thus, it seems natural to interpret this image as a declaration of love for the artist's pregnant wife, with the promise of spring acting as a symbol of the consummation of love.