The early 20th century was a time of transition, when established conventions were being challenged – including within the arts. Jens Søndergaard was among the artists who, from an early stage, experimented with new painterly approaches and gradually developed his own distinctive artistic expression. Jens Søndergaard was born on the island of Mors in 1895. Five years later, he moved with his family to Hurup in Thy. It was here that he grew up, and here that he painted his very first motifs. “At the age of fourteen, I was given a paint box and drove around looking for motifs,” Søndergaard recalled in 1955. The present painting from 1911 represents an early work from this formative period, when the artist was only 16 years old and still in a searching and experimental phase. Already at this stage, one senses his preoccupation with the landscapes of his native region, which would later become a central theme in his oeuvre. Stylistically, the work differs from his later, mature paintings, in which Søndergaard arrived at his characteristic expressive idiom and intense use of colour. Depicting a landscape from Thy, this painting thus offers a rare glimpse into the artist’s creative beginnings and his early attempts to establish a personal style.