Denmark and Art!

Throughout my time in Copenhagen and visiting different areas of Denmark there was no shortage of amazing artwork and cool exhibits. I will admit I am more a fan of historically significant art. A classic Van Gogh or Hieronymus Bosch painting, a Michelangelo sculpture and the archaeologically significant and priceless Nefertiti bust really catch my eye and leave me amazed. Although, I never really understood or had an appreciation of modern art until I visited two museums. Louisiana and ARoS took modern art exhibitions to another level. I’ll give you a bit of information about both and some pictures I took while visiting each of them.

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Louisiana is an international leading museum in modern art. The museum is essentially a converted country house. It opened in 1958 and was founded by Knud W. Jensen. The name Louisiana was inspired by the history of the building, which was built by Alexander Brun in 1855. Brun married three women, all of whom were named Louise.

Louisiana possibly to your surprise it is not located in Copenhagen- Denmark’s largest city and capital. Rather, it is located 35 kilometres north of Copenhagen on the shore of Øresund sound in Humlebæk. It’s quite secluded but that is part of the entire Louisiana experience. The extensive grounds, gardens, shoreline with a panoramic view of Sweden coupled with dispersed sculptures and the main building as a country house make Louisiana the unique modern art museum it is today. Each Louisiana visitor has a balanced and unique sense of environment, landscape, architecture while viewing modern artwork. I myself felt like I was visiting a cottage and going on a casual nature walk with artworks naturally popping up all around. Due to the importance of Louisiana’s outdoor element in the visitor’s experience, I would only recommend going on a nice day. Also, visiting Louisiana is a full day activity – trust me.

The ARoS Aarhus Art Museum

ARoS is one of the largest art museums in Northern Europe and most frequently visited in all of Scandinavia, with over one million visitors annually. The museum is 10 storeys high with 20,700 square meters dedicated to spacious and socially interactive art galleries. In March 2019 I visited the Aarhus Art Museum with some friends. We were all super impressed and it was perhaps one of the most enjoyable and interactive modern art experiences I have ever had. The highlight would definitely have to be the rainbow panorama on the top of ARoS providing incredible panoramic views of Aarhus. The following photos really give a sense of what ARoS is all about.