Emil Carlsen excelled in landscape, still life, and figurative works, rendered with a cool, lyrical sense of design and a deep sensitivity for form and atmospheric light. The artist was revered by his colleagues for his dedication and mastery of the craft of painting, especially in the exquisite paint surfaces of his canvases that acted as counterpoint to the abstract and decorative deployment of forms, often flattened to heighten their dramatic interplay. Carlsen’s intimate landscapes were both real and deeply spiritual, often mesmerizing in their simplicity and underlying sophistication. He was also known for his superb technical finesse in drawing and the masterful decorative quality of his canvases.