Sigurd Swane was a Post-impressionist painter and poet born in 1879 in Frederiksberg. He studied in Copenhagen at the Royal Danish Academy of Art from 1899 to 1903. That year he made his official debut at the Charlottenborg Spring Exhibition. His early works focused on everyday people in a social-realist manner.

     While in Paris in 1907 he was influenced by Fauvism which stimulated the artist to lighten his pallet and add bright color. On returning to Denmark, he painted a series of woodlands using greens, yellows and blues. His use of pointillistic spots was soon replaced by more solid brushstrokes, with careful separation of color, making him one of Denmark's foremost colorist. He also made portraits, still-lifes and some religious scenes, including many painted versions of, "The Dream of Jacob". His portraits are typified by wooded backgrounds. His first wife Christine Swane was also a painter.

     In 1912 he published one of his best known collections of poems, Skyer (Clouds). Three years later, he was among the organizers of the Grønningen artists' group. In 1924 his art was part of the painting event in the art competition at the Summer Olympics.

     After 1934 he fulfilled his childhood dream of living in the country on a farm in in the north-west of Zealand. The farm house, named Malergården, was designed by his second wife Agnete Swane who was also a painter. Malergården was also a residence for other Swane family members engaged in the arts including his brother Leo who was an art historian. In 2004 the idyllic house and grounds were established as a museum as a branch of the Odsherreds Kunstmuseum.

     In 1919 he was awarded the Eckersberg Medal, and later received the Thorvaldsen Medal in 1940.

     The artist is represented in these public institutions:

• AROS - Aarhus Art Museum

• Bornholm Art Museum

• BRANDTS - (Painting) Museum of Art & Visual Culture

• Esbjerg Art Museum

• Fuglsang Art Museum

• Faaborg Museum

• HEART Herning Museum of Contemporary Art

• Horsens Art Museum

• J.F. Willumsens Museum

• ARTS Museum of Modern Art Aalborg

• Museum Jorn

• Museum Sønderjylland (Brundlund Castle Art Museum)

• Museum Vestsjælland (Odsherred Art)

• Ribe Art Museum

• Rudersdal Museums

• Skagens Museum

• Skovgaard Museum

• Sorø Art Museum

• National Gallery of Denmark (SMK)

• Struer Museum

• Vejen Art Museum

• Vejlemuseerne (The Guide Museums of Art)

• East Funen Museums (Johannes Larsen)