Holger Drachmann

Holger Henrik Herholdt Drachmann (9 October 1846 – 14 January 1908) was a Danish poet and dramatist. He was a figure of the Modern Breakthrough.

The son of a physician, A. G. Drachmann, whose father belonged to the German-speaking congregation at St. Peter's Church, was born in Copenhagen. Owing to the early death of his mother, the child was left much to his own devices and developed a fondness for semi-poetical performances, organising his companions in heroic games, in which he himself took such parts as those of Peder Tordenskjold and Niels Juel.

Drachmann first visited Skagen in 1872 with the Norwegian painter Frits Thaulow. He frequently returned, associating with the growing colony of artists known as the Skagen Painters although his painting took second place to his writing. In 1903, he and his third wife Soffi settled in Skagen's Vesterby in their Villa Pax. Later in life, Drachmann returned to art, often painting pictures of ships and the sea. After his death, his Skagen home became a museum,

Holger was sent to Bornholm to learn to paint. There he met his first wife Vilhelmine Erichsen, whom he married in 1871 in Gentofte. They had one daughter, Eva. In 1874 his marriage ended. He was then involved with a married woman named Polly for a short while. Shortly after she gave birth to a daughter, she broke contact with him.

He then met with a young girl in Hamburg by the name of Emmy. They fell in love and got married. They adopted Polly's daughter and had four more children of their own. In 1887 she became seriously ill, and one of their daughters died the same year. Perhaps suffering from stress, he fled into a relation with Amanda Nielsen, whom he called Edith, who became his biggest muse. He would have many muses in his life, but on his deathbed he said that his two biggest muses were Vilhelmine and Edith.

Behind in his studies, he did not enter university until 1865, leaving it in 1866 to become a student at the Academy of Fine Arts. From 1866 to 1870 he learned, under Professor Sørensen, to become a marine painter, with some success. In about 1870 he came under the influence of Georg Brandes, and, without abandoning art, began to devote most of his time more to literature. At various periods he travelled very extensively in England, Scotland, France, Spain and Italy, and his literary career began by his sending letters about his journeys to the Danish newspapers.

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