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Anna Petersen Paintings: The 2 Most Famous, Through a Gallery's Eye
Updated November 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 3 works by Anna Petersen in our catalogue
In short
To the gallery's eye, Anna Petersen's most famous painting is Breton Girl Looking After Plants in the Hothouse (1884), whose original hangs in the Statens Museum For Kunst, Copenhagen. Of the 3 works by Anna Petersen in our catalog, the gallery presents the 2 most famous below, each original with its year, its museum and what makes it unique.
1845 – 1910, Copenhagen
Most works: Statens Museum For Kunst
The gallery's top 10 Anna Petersen paintings
The museums that keep Anna Petersen's originals
The 2 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Anna Petersen | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Statens Museum For Kunst |
Copenhagen | 1 | Breton Girl Looking After Plants in the Hothouse |
 Hirschsprung Collection |
Copenhagen | 1 | An evening with a friend. By lamplight |
Anna Petersen, the signature paintings of each year
Some ten years, from 1884 to 1891, were enough for Anna Petersen: the gallery walks through them year by year, one famous original after another.
Works per year
Pick a year to see its originals.
Anna Petersen's paintings: the gallery answers
Which Anna Petersen painting is the most famous of all?Reveal the answer
Breton Girl Looking After Plants in the Hothouse (1884).
How old was Anna Petersen on completing Breton Girl Looking After Plants in the Hothouse?Reveal the answer
39 years old: Breton Girl Looking After Plants in the Hothouse dates from 1884, and Anna Petersen was born in 1845.
How many works did Anna Petersen create?Reveal the answer
Our catalog holds 3 works by Anna Petersen, dated from 1884 to 1891.
Where do Anna Petersen's most famous originals hang?Reveal the answer
Mostly in Statens Museum For Kunst (Copenhagen) and Hirschsprung Collection (Copenhagen). The museum table above lists them all.
Which are Anna Petersen's earliest and latest famous works?Reveal the answer
On this page, the earliest is Breton Girl Looking After Plants in the Hothouse (1884) and the latest An evening with a friend. By lamplight (1891).
Anna Petersen: the artist
The Life and Art of Anna Petersen
Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Anna Petersen was a painter who navigated the complexities of the late 19th and early 20th-century art world. She received her training at the Tegneskolen for Kvinder in Copenhagen and later moved to France, where she apprenticed under Jean-Jacques Henner in Paris. Her artistic journey included studying at the Kunstskole for Kvinder and exhibiting her work at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. Petersen also showcased her talent on an international stage, exhibiting at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Throughout her career, she traveled to Spain, Skagen, and Italy.
Artistic Style and Notable Works
Petersen was recognized for her strong sense of realism, particularly in her genre paintings that depicted common people in domestic or religious settings. Her work often focused on figure painting and portraiture. Some of her notable works include:
In her painting En Aften Hos Veninde. Ved Lampelys, she depicted contemporary artists Marie Krøyer, Bertha Wegmann, and Jeanna Bauck listening to the violinist Frida Schytte. While she primarily worked in painting, she also produced a single known sculpture, a monument for her parents' grave in Assistens Cemetery.