Denmark Means Art: Part 7

We started the next day on the bus to the National Art Gallery, on the corner of Ostre Anlaeg, a large park close to downtown. Wouldn't you know it? The front was torn up on this one too. But admission was free and the school kids were already there, so we jumped right in.

While we were not very interested in the special show called Flowers and World Views, we enjoyed the galleries of European Art (1300-1800), Danish and Nordic Art (1750-1900), French Art (1900-1930), and Danish and International Art after 1900. Here are some of our favorites:

The Judgement of Paris by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1627, acquired 1744

I wanted to point out that this painting was acquired in 1744. They have several Cranachs.

Study of an Old Man in Profile by Rembrandt van Rijn, ca 1630

The Lifeboat is Taken through the Dunes by Michael Ancher, 1883

Boys Bathing at Skagen. Summer Evening by Peder Severin Kroyer, 1899

Fertilization on the Boarderland. Between Good and Evil by Ejler Bille, 1933

Tearful Eyes by Asger Jørn, 1940

Landscape by Henry Heerup, 1963

Female Nude by Karl Isakson, 1919-20

Le Luxe II by Henri Matisse, 1907-08

Alice by Amedeo Modigliani, ca 1918

Woman with a Vase by Fernand Leger, 1924

Standing Woman by Aristide Maillol, 1923

Untitled by Richard Winther, 1980s

Lunch was in the café – seasonal menus. We had some kind of smoked fish, topped with peanut shoots, chopped breadsticks and other stuff.

The other special show was called We the People (Detail) which involved a full-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty being cut into 400 pieces of bright copper by Danh Vo. The pieces are in museums around the world.

We the People (Detail) by Danh Vo

CLICK HERE FOR MORE - PART 1, PART 2 and PART 3.

Walked over to the Hirschsprung Collections which was on the other side of park. But as much as we do like the work of L.A. Ring and Harald Slot-Møller, we decided to skip their exhibition, A Flowering Season. And the tobacco heir’s collection centered on 19th century Danish Art – the so-called Golden Age, so it was an easy choice for us with so many places to see.

There was one more museum on the far corner of the park, so we tried Den Frie Center for Contemporary Art. In 1891 Den Frie Exhibition was founded by J.F. Willumsen, Vilhelm Hammershøj, Harald and Agnes Slott-Møller, Malthe Engelsted, and others. The goal was to create an alternative to the juried exhibition at Charlottenborg, inspired by the French Salon des Refusés.

Though the present gallery was originally designed by Willumsen and built in 1898, it was not in the current location until 1913. Through the years exhibitions have included P.S. Krøyer, Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh. While the show Confrontations was disturbing, they had a display of drawings by Storm P., member of CoBrA.

It was a much longer walk to the Thorvaldsens Museum. This curious building, very visible in Copenhagen covered with paintings, was the first public museum building in the city.

flea market out front

Bertel Thorvaldsen (1740-1844) was a very successful classical sculptor who lived in Rome for forty years before returning to Denmark. In 1838 he donated all his works to the City and the building was erected between 1839-48.

Ganymedes med Jupiters orn by Bertel Thorvaldsen

Snake Eating a Rabbit by Bertel Thorvaldsen, 1932-36

Rebuilding. The Three Graces by Jorgen Carlo Larsen

Only a short walk to the Ny Carlsburg Glyptotek over near Tivoli.

Renown for its ancient artifacts and collection of French Art, unfortunately for us, there was a Degas exhibit for which they shut down all the French galleries. I would have liked to see them instead.

Odin by H.E. Freund, 1825-27

Italian Osteria Scene. Girl Welcoming a Person entering by Wilhelm Marstrand, 1847

Mother Denmark by Elisabeth Jerichau-Bauman, 1851

The large atrium was my favorite place in this museum founded by the son of brewing magnate Carl Jacobsen. Glyptotek, by the way, comes from the Greek for "to carve" and "storing place."