This is the story of the love affair between a man and a painting. That’s how the owner of the painting, a principal at Alliance-Bernstein LP, John Oden, describes his relationship to “The Anniversary Dinner at ‘Adelaide'” (1906), by Danish artist Laurits Tuxen.

“I am a simple person when it comes to art,” Mr. Oden, who grew up in Texas and comes from a long line of cowboys, said. “I don’t like impressionistic and modern. What I really love is paintings of people. I connect more when there’s something I can see — activity — interesting people, doing interesting things.”

Mr. Oden loved the image of the painting so much that he recently invited a group of friends to his house to re-enact the party that the painting depicts: a centennial celebration hosted by the Danish industrialist Jacob Moresco in honor of his textile business, held at his estate, Adelaide, located in Ordrup, Denmark.

Here in present-day New York, Mr. Oden asked his guests to dress in white-tie, as the figures in the painting are dressed. During the cocktail hour, red velvet curtains blocked the entrances to the dining room so that guests would not see the painting until they sat down for dinner. As they took their seats for dinner, they were surrounded by the material proof of the host’s affection. Mr. Oden decorated his dining room to re-create the dinner-party scene with Limoges china, London Silver Vaults candelabras, bowls of tangerines and flowers on the table, as well as drapes, wall coverings, a chandelier, and plants that mimic those in the painting.

So as not to sully the dinner conversation with mundane 21st-century subjects, Mr. Oden asked guests to bring a poem to recite. And so, as roast loin of lamb with red wine-thyme sauce, pommes duchesse, haricots verts, and baby carrots were served, Mr. Oden recited Walt Whitman’s “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.” Others took breaks from their beet sorbet or lavender panna cotta with dried apricot compote to present work by W.B. Yeats, Oscar Wilde, and Rudyard Kipling.

Mr. Oden, whose interests range from art to literature to boxing, was aiming for “an ethereal evening” that would “transport guests into the painting.” “I tried to be true to every possible detail of the painting. The menu could have very well been served in Denmark in 1906,” he said.

Mr. Oden first spotted the painting at Sotheby’s about 10 years ago. Immediately, he knew he had to have it. He bought the painting at auction and lived with it for a few years.

The politicians and businessmen who attended the original party are identified by name in a diagram that accompanies the painting, which Mr. Oden displays on a breakfront underneath the painting, in his dining room. His appreciation for the work grew, surpassing the way he felt about any of his other paintings — and the walls of his Midtown apartment are full of them.

“I used to go to the auction houses every weekend, it was like a religion,” he said. “Now I can’t buy any more art; every square inch of my apartment is taken.”

He was so intrigued by this particular painting that he made a pilgrimage to Denmark.

“When you have something you really love, you want to know a little bit more about it,” Mr. Oden said. “I identified with this painting so much I was really curious. I wanted to know who was in it and what it was about. I really wanted to see the actual estate.”

Mr. Oden went to castles, libraries, museums, and galleries, carrying a photograph of his painting with him — and accumulated a large stack of Xeroxed material in Danish, which he plans to have translated. He located reproductions of his painting in books and and saw many other works by Tuxen (1853-1927), a well-known portraitist at the time who was prolific in Europe and Russia. In the collection of the royal family of England are several works he painted of Queen Victoria and her family. His work “The Wedding of Nicholas II and Grand Princess Alexandra Fyodorovna” hangs at the Hermitage.

“He painted huge paintings. A lot of his work hangs in castles in Denmark because those were the only walls that could hold them,” Mr. Oden said. “My painting may be the smallest one he ever painted.” The dimensions are eight feet wide by five feet tall.

While visiting Ordrup, Mr. Oden was disappointed to find that the estate “Adelaide” had been torn down. But he met and interviewed several people who knew about the artist and the painting. “I just kept on digging,” Mr. Oden said, noting that the company he works for is a major research firm. “It was unbelievable, it was so much fun.”

Upon his return, he set about redecorating his dining room to match Moresco’s celebration and re-create the evening with friends. He has held three such parties.

“This has been an adventure, and the adventure continues,” Mr. Oden said.

Though Mr. Oden does not eat in his dining room very often, he goes in to look at the painting frequently. The longer he lives with it, the more he cherishes it.

“Someday it probably belongs back in Denmark. But I’m going to own it for the next few decades. I’m in no rush to release this painting,” Mr. Oden said.