Happy Christmas Greeting Card

Happy Christmas by Viggo Johansen. Viggo Johansen studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1868 to 1875. Early on he showed just as much interest in playing Mozart on the hotel piano or Gluck on the church organ as in painting. Johansen is remembered particularly for the subdued lighting effects of his interiors and his scenes of domestic family life. In 1885, he exhibited in Paris; there he was inspired by Claude Monet. After his return from Paris, his paintings took on lighter tones; he had noted the absence of black in the works of the French artists and considered his own earlier works too dark by comparison. "Happy Christmas", perhaps his most famous painting, evokes the simple joys of the Christmas season.