Den ”danske friske strand” og 1800-tallets landskabsmaleri

Resumé

Beaches [strand,-e] are arguably the central and most important feature of the geography of Denmark. The country has a coastline of over 7000 km. Some of these beaches are the sand-strande, which today in Danish and other languages are close to synonymous with ‘beach’, implying sand beach with space for bathing and leisure. However, there are many other types as the origin of beach in English denotes, but during the 19th century these were ousted. Landscape painting in the 19th century, being central in defining a national identity – and a national landscape – bears witness also to - what became – debarred beaches. With an interdisciplinary approach, the article looks at the evidence of the “strand” in etymology, cartography, geography and landscape painting in the 19th century. It explores the different usage of strand over time, and in general language as opposed to the geographical terminology. It appears, that it is the general term coast, which encompass the wider concept; and by using it, these other and often ousted types do appear in the landscape paintings. Only, since they figure as depictions of the general concept coast, they emphasize how earlier well-regarded strand types are presently relatively disregarded. As a concluding remark, the article suggests reconsiderations of those coastal parts in the larger perspective of the ‘national’ nature, nature preservation and identity.