{{short description|Danish painter}} thumb|Erik Raadal: ''Firetoget'' (1937) '''Erik Kristoffer Raadal''' (18 June 1905 – 13 January 1941) was a Danish painter.<ref name=dbl>{{cite dictionary|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Dansk_Biografisk_Leksikon/Kunst_og_kultur/Billedkunst/Maler/Erik_Raadal|title=Erik Raadal|dictionary=Dansk Biografisk Leksikon|accessdate=18 November 2014 |language=Danish}}</ref> During his short life, Raadal became one of Denmark's most important landscape painters of the 1930s, often painting scenes around Gjern, his home town in central Jutland.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.denstoredanske.dk/Kunst_og_kultur/Billedkunst/Danmark_1910-55/Erik_Raadal|title=Erik Raadal|encyclopedia=Den Store Danske|accessdate=18 November 2014 |language=Danish}}</ref>
==Biography== Born in the little village of Horn near Silkeborg in central Jutland, Raadal studied painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts under Ejnar Nielsen and Sigurd Wandel (1927–31). His landscapes of the quiet station town of Gjern were initially quite dark but by the mid-1930s, he had begun to employ lighter tones. They often include figures, usually seen from behind, emphasizing the depths of the scene beyond. His strict composition and his town scenes were considered leading examples of how to depict space and depth of field in urban landscapes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/VisWeilbach.do?kunstnerId=611&wsektion=alle|title=Erik Raadal|author=Dorthe Falcon Møller|publisher=Kunstindeks Danmark & Weilbachs Kunstnerleksikon|accessdate=18 October 2014 |language=Danish}}</ref> His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/920240 |title=Erik Raadal |work=Olympedia |accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref>
Raadal exhibited in Charlottenborg from 1929 as well as at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling until 1934 but it was at Corner that he exhibited most frequently. Raadal died in Silkeborg when he was only 35.<ref name=dbl/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Literature== *{{cite book|last=Falcon Møller|first=Dorthe|title=Erik Raadal: maleren fra Gjern|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7kGlQwAACAAJ|year=1987|publisher=Foreningen for Dansk Kunst|isbn=978-87-88802-01-6}}
==External links== *[https://www.kulturarv.dk/kid/SoegKunstnerVaerker.do?kunstnerId=611 Illustrated list of works by Erik Raadal in Danish museums from Kunstindeks Danmark]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raadal, Erik}} Category:1905 births Category:1941 deaths Category:20th-century Danish painters Category:Danish landscape painters Category:People from Silkeborg Municipality Category:Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Category:Art competitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics