Denmark’s premier destination for viewing art is actually located 25 miles north of the capital, in Humlebæk— a 45-minute train ride from Copenhagen (København, Danmark) —on the shore of the Øresund Sound which separates Denmark and Sweden.
The entrance is deceptively simple and does not reveal the marvelous modern galleries and lovely natural landscape.
Initially, it was founded in 1958 for the purpose of collecting Danish art. The founder Knud W. Jensen changed his mind soon after and made the museum’s clear mission as the promotion of international art in Denmark.
From the train station, it is a 15-minute walk through the village of Humlebæk or the distance of about two bus-stops.
The museum has two wings. We barely had a chance to see the wing with permanent collection which includes works from Europe and the US after 1945 (pieces by Picasso, Warhol, Rauchenberg, Oldenburg) and numerous pieces from after the 1990s.
The museum includes not just a cafe but a buffet restaurant on the waterfront (we had dinner there).
In 2008, extending its hours until 22.00 Tuesday to Friday enables the museum to serve as a cultural center.
It has a mini lecture hall. According to the museum’s web site,
the founder “divided the exhibitions into hot and cold varieties: The hot consisted of artists that the guests already knew – the great modern classics – while the cold gave room for names the guests had never heard of – the less easily accessible, often contemporary artists.”
There is also a multi-level gift shop, which is an understatement, since it not only sells museum catalogs and books, it also sells a carefully coordinated collection of clothings and accessories taken from multiple brands.
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is named after the wives of the original owner of the building, all three of whom were named Louise. Nothing to do with the state of Louisiana in the US.
The view of the water from this room is stunning. Don’t we all wish to have such a living room ?
Among its permanent collection are entire galleries dedicated to Asger Jorn (Danish) and Alberto Giacometti (see later post), as well as an installation of mirrored psychedelia by Yayoi Kusama – Gleaming Lights of the Souls.
You enter the installation through this small non-descript door and walk a short distance into the middle of a space. It looks the same all around. Can you see us ? The light changes color continuously. One loses all sense of direction, perspective, size and distance in this room. I really liked to turn the lights on and see how actually small or large is the room.
The temporary exhibitions include work by Jeff Wall
David Hockney produced a series of drawings while staying nearby.
Paintings by Peter Doig
I (Chris) have not heard of this artist Doig before but I liked his work. Apparently, a living Scottish painter, residing in Trinadad, whose paintings sold for 25 million in 2015 at Christie’s. Hmmm.
We will take a stroll through the museum’s sculpture garden in our next post.