The Artist's Wife Sitting in a Garden Chair, Skagen 1893 by Peder Severin Kroyer

Krøyer was born in Stavanger, Norway, on 23 July 1851 to Ellen Cecilie Gjesdal. He was raised by Gjesdal's sister, Bertha Cecilie (born 1817) and brother-in-law, the Danish zoologist Henrik Nikolai Krøyer, after his mother was judged unfit to care for him. Krøyer moved to Copenhagen to live with his foster parents soon afterward. Having begun his art education at the age of nine under private tutelage, he was enrolled in Copenhagen's Technical Institute the following year.

In 1870 at the age of 19 Krøyer completed his studies at the Royal Danish Academy of Art (Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi), where he had studied with Frederik Vermehren. In 1873 he was awarded the gold medal, as well as a scholarship.