Peder Severin Kröyer

Middelfart mental hospital in the medieval town Middelfart by Lilla Bält on Fyn in Denmark was founded in 1887. Krøyer was consigned there in February 1907 for a period of a month. The hospital was at that time run by Dr. Fredrik Lange (1842-1907) who in 1904 had published his famous work Slegter, iagttagelser fra en sindsygsanstalt. In March 1907 Krøyer drew a profile portrait of Lange which formed the base for a bronze relief in a funeralmonument erected in his memory in 1908 (Middelfart Museum).

After that Marie Krøyer, the artist´s wife, had left him for the Swedish composer Hugo Alfvén, Krøyer begun a relationship with Henny Brodersen, the wife of the town treasurer in Skagen. In 1905 he drew a design for a ring for her, with an H under an S between hearts and the date 1903. Brodersen, however, decided to remain with her husband, and the relationship between her and Krøyer developed into deep friendship. Krøyer did not overcome the fact that his wife had left him and begun to fall into periods of deep depression which lasted up to his death in 1909.