Sleigh ride on a sunny winter day by Peder Monsted.

Peder Mork Monsted was a Danish realist painter. He is best known for his landscape paintings. Realism, sometimes called naturalism, in the arts is generally the attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements.

At an early age, he began to receive painting lessons at the art school in Aarhus. From 1875 to 1879, studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.M?nsted demonstrated that you can paint realism whilst retaining a somewhat painterly quality through the use of fluid brushwork and by simplifying areas of relatively less importance. He did not illustrate every leaf on the trees or every individual strand of grass. His use of color is also very impressive, appearing rich and united by the light. Also notice how M?nsted frequently used black for the shadows, rather than the dark blues, greens and purples used by the impressionists. Black is often avoided by many landscape painters, but it can be extremely effective if used correctly. He was especially praised for his mastery in depicting water, a difficult subject to paint with realism.

Most of his landscapes were devoted to Scandinavia. He was especially popular in Germany, where he held several shows at the Glaspalast in Munich. Most of his works are in private collections. In 1995, a major retrospective, called ''Light of the North'', was held in Frankfurt am Main.