Albertine i politilægens venteværelse (Albertine at the Police Doctor's Waiting Room; finished 1887) is the title of a naturalist

Naturalism (art)

Naturalism in art refers to the depiction of realistic objects in a natural setting. The Realism movement of the 19th century advocated naturalism in reaction to the stylized and idealized depictions of subjects in Romanticism, but many painters have adopted a similar approach over the centuries...

 painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 by Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 artist Christian Krohg

Christian Krohg

Christian Krohg , was a Norwegian naturalist painter, illustrator, author and journalist.-Life and career:...

, showing the scene in a waiting room.

Albertine i politilægens venteværelse is regarded as Krohg's principal work as a social painter. The painting touched the taboo subject of sexual life, and led to a heated debate among his contemporaries. The format of the painting is unusually large; people are portrayed in full scale. The painting is held in the National Gallery

National Gallery of Norway

The National Gallery of Norway is a gallery in Oslo, Norway. Since 2003 it is administratively a part of the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design.-History:...

 in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

.

The painting

The painting depicts a situation in the police doctor's waiting room

Waiting room

A waiting room is a building, or more commonly a part of a building where people sit or stand until the event they are waiting for occurs.There are generally two types of waiting room. One is where individuals leave one at a time, for instance at a doctor's office or a hospital, or outside a school...

. "Albertine" is the next person to enter the examination room. She is dressed in a simple costume, in contrast to the other women in the room, who are dolled up in colorful dresses, typical of the prostitutes of the period.

Ownership history

The painting was placed in a shack for nearly twenty years, until it was eventually sold. In 1907 the buyer resold the painting to the National Gallery of Norway.

Related works

Krohg had made several earlier paintings based on the fate of the unmarried seamstress "Albertine", who eventually is forced into prostitution due to the social system of the time. Other related paintings are Daggry from 1880 (at Statens Museum for Kunst

Statens Museum for Kunst

Statens Museum for Kunst is the Danish national gallery located in Copenhagen....

 in Copenhagen), Sypiken from 1881 (at Göteborgs Konstmuseum) and Trett from 1885 (at the National Gallery in Oslo). He also explored the subject in the novel Albertine

Albertine (1886 novel)

Albertine is a novel written in 1886 by Norwegian painter and writer Christian Krohg.The novel is set in Norway's capital, Christiania, and deals with the life of the unmarried seamstress Albertine, who is eventually forced into prostitution due to the social system of the time. The book was...

, written in 1886. The debate following the publishing and confiscation of the novel expedited the abolition of public prostitution in Norway.