The Danish Queen sets the scene in new Netflix film: Karen Blixen Museum to open unique exhibition

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II has participated in bringing a new Netflix film’s scenography to life in cooperation with the internationally renowned director Bille August. The Queen has contributed by designing costume sketches and decoupages based on the themes of the story.

On October 6th, the Karen Blixen Museum, Rungstedlund, will be opening an exhibition with the artworks created by the Danish Queen. The exhibition ‘Portraits of seduction – the Queen sets the scene for Ehrengard’ displays selected costumes, costume sketches and decoupages used as scenography in a new Danish Netflix-production.

The famous Danish author Karen Blixen wrote ‘Ehrengard’ as a playful counterpart to Søren Kierkegaard’s ‘A Seducer’s Diary’ and worked on the tale for about ten years. It was published posthumously in 1962, shortly after her death, in the leading American magazine ‘Ladies’ Home Journal’ as a shortened version. In 1963, the complete novel "Ehrengard" was published internationally.

The exhibition at Rungstedlund will be displaying the Queen’s water colour sketches, costume designs, and 41 of the Queen’s decoupages depicting magical landscapes and interiors. The artwork is displayed alongside texts from Karen Blixen’s tale, together with the Queen’s own audio commentaries to some of the illustrations.

The Netflix film ‘Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction’ was released globally on the streaming service on the 14th of September, featuring, amongst others, Mikkel Boe Foelsgaard, Sidse Babett Knudsen and Alice Bier Zanden in leading roles.

Netflix has also released the documentary ‘Lifting the Veil – Behind the Scenes of Ehrengard’, which follows the Queen and her continuous work with the decoupages, scenography, and film manuscript.

The exhibition on Rungstedlund: ‘Portraits of seduction – the Queen sets the scene for Ehrengard’ runs from the 6th of October 2023 to the 30th of April 2024.

• Karen Blixen was born on Rungstedlund in 1885 and died there in 1962. She lived most of her life in Rungstedlund except for 17 years spent in Kenya.
• Established a 15-hectare Bird Sanctuary on Rungstedlund in 1958.
• The Bird Sanctuary has today a rich biodiversity and many bird species.
• The grave of Karen Blixen is located under a 300-year-old beech tree in the garden of Rungstedlund – a location designated by Karen Blixen herself.
• A 16 km certified Blixen-walking route will open in the end of 2023. The route starts and ends at Rungstedlund and offers several shorter loops. A free trail map can be downloaded.
• Madam Carlsens Café is the café of Rungstedlund named after Blixen’s long-time housekeeper and chef.
• Karen Blixen was born into the Dinesen family. A family of strong ties and a great impact on the local society, influencing the urban plan and establishing of a local train station, church, school, and harbour. 
• The Karen Blixen Museum is an intact and authentic author home offering permanent and changing exhibitions, including a range of events.
• Find more information on their website: https://blixen.dk/en

• Karen Blixen attended the art academy Charlottenborg to become a painter, but never completed the education.
• Karen Blixen was accommodated at Hotel d’Angleterre in a period as Rungstedlund went through a comprehensive renovation.

‘Ehrengard’ is a tale about the German Grand-Duchy of Babenhausen, where the infamous seducer and Don Juan of his day, the portrait artist Herr Wolfgang Cazotte, has been hired by the Grand-Duchess to help ensure the birth of an heir to the ducal family.

Herr Cazotte begins the search for a suitable bride for the Grand-Duchess’s son, Prince Lothar, who is not remotely interested in women or romance but who nevertheless marries Princess Ludmilla as the result of Herr Cazotte’s ingenious plan, in which, however, one seduction leads to another.

During the course of events, Herr Cazotte himself becomes obsessed with the thought of seducing into total submission Ludmilla’s lady-in-waiting, Ehrengard. He plans to do this by painting her naked whilst she believes she is hidden from view. However, in his meeting with the young Ehrengard, a veritable “force of nature”, it is Herr Cazotte himself who is seduced, with serious consequences to the future course of his life.