He was born in an area then in the Russian Empire (now in
Estonia). As a child, he moved with his family to Frejlev (
Guldborgsund Municipality) on the island of
Lolland. In 1905, he studied at the Copenhagen Technical School and later at the Kunstnernes Frie Studieskole where he was taught by
Kristian Zahrtmann and
Johan Rohde. In 1911, he travelled to
Paris where he was inspired especially by
Paul Cézanne. On returning to Denmark, he became one of the
classic modernists who around the time of the
First World War focused on formal representation concentrating on form, line and colour. His work was exhibited at
Grønningen's first exhibition in 1915. In 1919, he moved to
Bornholm where he specialised in landscape painting and became a member of the
Bornholm school of painters. Rude was one of Denmark's most important modernists, sometimes called Denmark's
Matisse for his use of colour in his expressive landscapes. ==References==