Funen County Funen County Fyns Amt (English: Funen County) is a former county (Danish, "amt") in central Denmark, comprising the islands of Funen, Langeland, Tåsinge, Ærø, and approximately 90 other islands, of which only 25 are inhabited. The county was formed on 1 April 1970, comprising the former counties of Odense and Svendborg. The county was abolished from 1 January 2007, when it merged into Region Syddanmark (i.e. "Region South Denmark"). The county employed around 20,000 people working in more than 160 institutions located all over Funen. Funen County's coat of arms showed three connected gold hop leaves on a field of
Funen Painters artists including Olaf Rude, Harald Leth and Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen who came to Møllebakken for inspiration. Another artist associated with the group was Poul S. Christiansen who came from the north of Funen and became a close friend of Zahrtmann after he joined his school in 1885. It was there that he met Johannes Larsen. As a result of their paintings of everyday country life, the Funen Painters were sometimes disparagingly called "bondemalerne" or the peasant painters. In 1907, there was a heated debate in the Danish press between Gudmund Hentze and Harald Slott-Møller and his wife, who stood up for