About Obro Art Gallery.
About our paintings, Return policys, eBay and gallery picks.

About Obro art gallery : We are a small and honest family business located in Copenhagen. You can always count on us concerning safe shipping and the origin of our paintings. Our family has been dealing with art in many generations starting way back before world war ll. We are more a family of art lovers than art dealers and it gives us a great pleasure to sell and introduce fine European and Scandinavian art to the rest of the world. We organize an antique fair in Copenhagen every summer so if you are planning a trip to wonderful Copenhagen one day then please feel free to come by and visit us.

Our paintings on eBay: Besides our art gallery, we also have several large storehouses. We use eBay to sell out from our storehouses and from the many private households we buy from in Denmark. Our goal is to provide our buyers 100% original quality paintings in which both we and our clients can be proud of. You can find our weekly auction on ebay under our seller ID : fine-scandinavian-art.

Confidence, Trust and Return policy: All purchases are fully guaranteed to be as described. We make every effort to photograph and describe each item to the best of our ability. All information we write about the artists and their auction prices on eBay is always fully documented and can be mailed to you on demand. However if you are not satisfied with your purchase contact us within 2 days of receipt of the item and we will authorize a return. A refund will be issued when the item is returned to us in the same condition as when it was originally shipped, If we feel we are to blame or have made a mistake of some kind, we will pay all shipping costs.

Contact information: Address: Obro Art Gallery. Strandboulevarden 25. 2100. Copenhagen. Denmark. Opening hours: Mon-Fri. 12.00 - 17:30 PM. Phone: Work: 0045 35 26 19 21. Cell: 00 45 23 23 49 38. Email: art@obro-artgallery.com or rydeng@obro-artgallery.com .

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Hans Rydeng: The owner of Obro art gallery in Copenhagen and son of the artist Leif Rydeng. Hans has been dealing with art most of his lifetime and deals today in antique and modern European paintings. Hans is also an expert and great collector of antique ship models and nautical items.

Martin Rydeng: Son of Hans. Works daily at Obro Art Galley and is dealing with contemporary works by new and visionary Scandinavian artists.

Josephine Rydeng: Daughter of Hans, the maintainer of all our eBay auctions and the one who both writes and answers all the e-mails. Besides that she is also the one behind our webpage and the one who translate all the Danish artists biographies into English. Josephine is also a great collector of fine Scandinavian modernism. She is particular interested in works by Danish modernist Borge L. Knudsen.

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The Rydeng family history and background :

Early Art collecting in the Rydeng family: Tale of Niels-Peder Rydeng ( 1880-1949)	History of Danish Jews during the occupation 1939-1945.
November Group's Finnish Expressionism: Founded at Rydengs house in Ellsinore 1910.
The legacy from Niels-Peder Rydeng : A grand collection of modern art.

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In 1905 Niels-peder opened his own tailor-shop in Ellsinore, Denmark where he by coincidence hired the Finnish artist Tyko Sallinen (1879-1955) who was working as a tailor at the time.

Sallinen. Selfportrait. 1914.

It did not take Niels-peder a long time to realize that the young Sallinen was not only a skillful tailor but also an extraordinary unique and brilliant painter. Niels-peder encouraged the young Sallinen to spend more time on painting and helped him acquire painting materials and canvases. In return Sallinen helped with making covers and designs to promote Niels-peder tailor shop.

Sallinen wrote to his artist friends telling about Niels-peders generousness and how he got free room and border in exchange for paintings. The word quickly spread and soon more Finnish artists turned up. Among them were Juhu Mäkelä (1885-1943), Jonas Peson (1887-1952) , Jalmari Ruokokoski (1886–1936) and William Lönnberg (1887–1949).

Ruokokoski had a particular strong fascination by Mrs. Valborg Rydeng, whose beauty he compared to a Mona Lisa of the north. Many amusing stories about Ruokokoski have since been passed on in our family. One is a story about when Ruokokoski went to town after work. Upon his return in the mornings he always told the most extraordinary stories. There was no end to the amazing things he had experienced during the nights. One day when Niels-Peder Rydeng was in town he heard from the locals that nothing ever happened and that no one remembered the unique events that Ruokooski had talked about. Later Niels-Peder Rydeng confronted Ruokokoski and asked why he kept telling amazing stories if nothing happened? Ruokokoski smiled and quietly replied “ Jamen, Snille Hr. Rydeng, sanheten är jo sä träkig” ( But, dear Mr. Rydeng….The truth is so boring ). Ruokokoskis stay in Elsinore had a great impact on the Rydeng family. His bold expressive works were very much adored by Niels-Peder Rydeng and Ruokokoskis personality and charisma brightened up the small town while he lived there. In February 1912, Ruokokoski returned to Finland where he exhibited his Elsinore works at the Ateneum. Upon his depart from Elsinore, Niels-Peder Rydeng made an elegant suit for him to wear at the exhibition. The friendship between Rydeng and Ruokokoski continued after his depart in 1912 and Ruokokoski returned to Elsinore many times for briefer visits.

The November group: The Finnish Expressionist colony.

It was in the Rydeng tailor shop in Ellsinore where the Finnish artists movement ” The November group” first was founded in 1910. Its leader was Tyko Sallinen (1879-1955) and other members included Marcus Collin (1882–1966), Alvar Cawén (1886–1935), Jalmari Ruokokoski (1886–1936) and William Lönnberg (1887–1949). The November group caused the greatest ever uproar in Finnish art during the early 19th century. In the Finnish art of its age it represented everything that was ugly, incompetent, distorting and primitive. Today the movement is considered one of the most important and influenced periods ever founded in Finnish art

The Rydeng legacy: A modern art collection.

The art-loving tailor, Niels-peder Rydeng, had by the 1920ties, one of the largest modern art collections ever seen in Scandinavia. Niels-peder Rydeng was not a wealthy man, and most of his life he could only acquire art through untraditional methods.
One of his methods was swabbing and he often invited young artists to take a piece from his collection in exchange for one of their artworks. Another successful method were offering the young artists a collection of tailor-made suits in exchange for some
of their artworks.

Among the many visitors in his house were modern artists like; Edvard, Munch, Olouf höst, Edvard weie, J.F Willumsen, Sigurd Swane, Borge L. Knudsen, Folmer Bonnén and Karl Isakson.

In 1925 the modern collection filled Rydeng entire house and tailor shop. It was more a museum than a house and Niels-Peder Rydeng began looking for houses where he could open a museum. In 1930 Niels-Peder Rydeng offered to donate his entire collection to the city of Ellsinore in exchange for providing him a building for his works. The city sadly declined his offer and in 1935, Niels-peder begun selling from his collection to the auction house “ Winkel og Magnussen.

253 works of art was sold in 1935. Among them were 43 works by Edward Munch and many other works by artists like; Harald Giersing, Jais Nielsen, Theodor Philipsen, Olaf Rude, William Scharff, Frits Syberg, Edvard Weie and Ernst Zeuthen.

The auction house Winkel og Magnussen published a special catalog for the sale of the Collection and wrote the following passage: “ The N.P Rydeng collection is the result of 25 years of true respect and adornment of art. A man with very restricted resources but with a boundless love of the arts.

Please feel free to browse the Rydeng auction catalog here.

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History of Danish Jews during the occupation 1939-1945.

On the 9th of April 1940 at about 04.15 in the morning, 40.000 German Troops invaded Denmark. The entire army of Denmark was then only about 14.500 men, where 8000 of them were young recruits. Outnumbered and caught by surprise, Danish soldiers fought back until the Danish King officially surrounded at 06.00 after 2 hours of fighting. Shortly after Norway was invaded, while Sweden remained neutral.

From 1939 – 1943, Danish Jews and Jewish refugees living in Denmark were relativity safe since there were no talk about deportation or removable yet. About 7.500 Jews lived in Denmark in 1940. In August, 1943, a state of emergency was declared in Denmark, and the Nazis decided that they could now move against the Jews. In September Hitler approved the deportation of the Danish Jews. Werner Best of the SS, Hitler's chief in Denmark, received the final order to precede with deportation of Jews to death camps, on Sept.28, 1943. The Nazis were prepared to deport the 7,500 Jews, starting at 10 PM. on Oct. 1, 1943.

One of the great Stories about the Danes during World War 2 is that the message about the deportation was intercepted by the Danish resistance about 3 weeks before and thus began one of the largest rescue missions ever known in Danish history. Within three weeks, about 7,000 Jews and another 700 non-Jewish relatives were taken to Sweden. This huge operation was founded by both Jews and Danes from all classes. The church, police officers, fishermen and numerous common Danish people all worked together, providing safe houses and boats for the Jews. Nevertheless, about 500 Jewish men, women, and children were captured and deported to Theresienstadt. The Danish government did all they could for the 500 Danish Jews in Theresienstadt. Food parcels was shipped and the ministry also put forward a demand that a Danish delegation could be allowed to visit the Danish Jews. All most all Jews in Theresienstadt were later sent to death camps like Auschwitz. However due to pressure and protest from the Danish Government, none of the 500 Danish Jews were moved. About 60 Danish Jews died while living in Theresienstadt. The rest happily survived and was picked up by the Danish and Swedish Governments at the liberation in may 1945. Denmark has since been known for being the country in Europe who managed to save the highest number of Jews during World War 2.

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