MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS (KUNSTEN)

The site is already enchanting in itself: a wooded park and a very modern architectural jewel combining white marble and glass, offering large interior spaces with lots of natural light and fluidity in movement. This building was built between 1968 and 1972 according to the plans of two of the most important architects of those decades: Elissa and Alvar Aalto and Jean-Jacques Baruël. A minimal and functional vessel admirably integrated into the landscape and whose parking was built underground, to hide the cars and not distort the environment. A real showcase for contemporary art.

In the first rooms on the left, temporary exhibitions are displayed alongside the permanent collections. These temporary exhibitions sometimes disrupt the presentation of the works, some of which are then temporarily stored to free up the space. To know the program, consult the website.

But you will still have the opportunity to see most of the collections during your visit.

The collections are devoted to Danish art movements from the 1920s to the 1970s.

A major artistic movement is the Cobra movement - an acronym for Copenhagen, Brussels, Amsterdam, the name given to this group of Nordic artists created in 1948. Many paintings of Asger Jørn (one of the founding members of the group), Karel Appel (Belgian), Constant (Dutch), Stefan Gilbert (English), Richard Mortensen (Danish) which its many associations of colors and forms, Jean-Michel Atlan (Algerian), Corneille (Belgian) more graphic, Alechinsky, Jacques Doucet, Anton Rooskons (Dutch), Ejler Bille (Danish), Egill Jacobsen (Danish) ..

Then, a room presents artists of the surrealist movement or the interwar period. We can see all the deliberately provocative fantasy of the Danish surrealist, Wilhelm Freddie, a realist and neat style close to Dalí with a whole political criticism and a large dose of sarcasm. Several of his paintings, including Meditation on anti-Nazi love, with a tiny Hitler playing with the world, and a sculpture entitled Sex Paralysappeal. In 1936, the phallus drawn on the cheek of the lady had shocked a lot ... Another Danish surrealist, Harry Carlsson (paintings of the 1930s, recurring theme of the eye, human body parts mixed with the landscape, a metaphorical reading of the world). Also noteworthy is a painting by Max Ernst.

Finally, a large room presents the Danish cubist artists or those of the 1940s: Søren Hjorth Nielsen (1901-1983) is a special artist who deserves to be discovered (stylized landscape, sketched, light, airy and pleasant flat colors, to be looked at from a distance). Oluf Høst (1884-1966) also represents landscapes where bodies and forms are sketched (lightness, simple play of matter and colors, close to Turner). Olaf Rude's style is similar to the German New Objectivity. Jens Søndergaard (1895-1957) reminds us of German Expressionism where urban mutations seem distorted and tortured, just like the bodies. And Vilhelm Lundstrøm (1893-1950) another Danish cubist with a cold and formal style..

In addition, a succession of small rooms covers the movements of painting (especially Danish) from the turn of the late ^nineteenth century to the 1970s and 1980s, through the Avant-gardes of the first half of the ^twentieth century.

One room is devoted to realism and symbolism of the late ^19th century.

A room on "modern trends of the early ^twentieth century, from 1920 to 1950" with Fernand Léger, Jens Ferdinand Willhumsen (1863-1968), Two Breton women walking (close to those of Gauguin) or a painting with war wounded, Carl Larsen ..

A room on "early Danish modernism, 1910-1935": Olaf Rude, Harald Jiersing (sketched forms, pointillism), Edward Weie (1879-1943)..

A room devoted to Henry Heerup (1907-1993), a Danish artist close to cubism and Fernand Léger.

A room on the Fluxus years and the conceptual tendencies: Al Hansen (American origin, collages, pubs, Venus in cigarette ends); two works of Niki de Saint Phalle; Arthur Køpke (1928-1977) German-Danish, conceptual artist; two paintings of Ben; Sven Dalsgaard (1914-1999) who uses the burlap; Albert Mertz (1920-1990)

A room on "Danish narrative art": political and social dimension, legible and colorful aspect, close to comics, staging of symbols of Danish culture, with artists such as Kirsten Christensen (born 1943): A Dog's Life, a hollowed and sheared canvas with a skeleton in the center. Oles Porring (born 1941) and Erik Hagens (born 1940).

A room on "New Danish Expressionism (1980s) torben Ebbessen (born 1945) with a canvas that mixes different materials (glue, metal), or Berit Jensen (born 1956), flashy colors and graphic forms, close to Basquiat ..

In addition, throughout the museum tour are exposed several sculptures, including the Castle of the dream, a realization of Bjørn Norgaard (1979-1982), as well as in the park of the museum where various contemporary works mark out the greenery as in Louisiana. For example, a glass hut placed on rocks, in the shape of a rune stone, and water.

The museum has a café and a bookstore.