Vilhelm Groth

After taking a diploma at the Det von Westenske Institut, a private gymnasium, he began his artistic instruction at the drawing school operated by Frederik Ferdinand Helsted.

[2][3] In 1861, he took some classes at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, then attended the Modelskolen, but his studies were interrupted when he was conscripted to serve in the Second Schleswig War.

[2] Later in 1876, when the highly respected painter, Vilhelm Kyhn, rejected the desirability of seeking inspiration from the French, Groth strongly disagreed.

[2] Inspired by the work of Georg Brandes, he argued that every period imposes its own requirements and that Realism was the appropriate goal for contemporary Danish artists.

This led him to associate with the "Bogstaveligheden [da]" (roughly, the "Literalists") a group of radical intellectuals who between 1880 and 1882 met to discuss art and literature .