The fall and winter exhibitions in Copenhagen and beyond

In the fall, Ordrupgaard art museum will highlight one of the most renowned and beloved Danish artist couples, Anna and Michael Ancher. The artist couple is especially known as part of the famous Skagen painters. The exhibition will be the first in recent years to address the artists and their respectful and artistic partnership that blossomed in their Skagen home. A partnership that was also very rare at that time, as women typically had to give up their careers when they got married.

The exhibition examines the artistic dialogue between the two and their similarities. It has a starting point in the painting Appraising the Day’s Work from 1883, which the artist couple painted together. Here they depict themselves as practising artists of equal standing, coherent with their real-life situation. But the exhibition also sheds light on differences between the two artists, which progressed over the years. 

This September and October, the art gallery Gl. Holtegaard will present a solo exhibition with the expressive Danish artist Frederik Næblerød. Frederik Næblerød has, in recent years, taken the Danish art scene by storm with his fast-paced, original paintings and sculptures populated by monsters and other strange creatures. In his exhibition on Gl. Holtegaard Frederik Næblerød will exploit the baroque history and rooms of Gl. Holtegaard with his expressive universe and present time. 

The exhibition examines the masquerade as a cultural phenomenon and identity game, where you, for a while, can put on a mask and turn the hierarchy upside down. Frederik Næblerød paints with anything he can find: paint, glue and Polyfilla – on mirrors, wooden boards, and the back of canvasses. This exhibition also showcases new sides of the artist, as he creates a scenographic process unfolded in ceramics, painting, Polyfilla reliefs and props.

On December 1st, Home of Carlsberg will open a new interactive exhibition and attraction after five years of renovation. The exhibition will tell the past, present, and future story of the world’s third-largest brewery, Carlsberg. The exhibition provides a rare insight into the first steps of modern beer brewing and Carlsberg's work within science, art, and civil society.

Furthermore, the Home of Carlsberg attraction will also include a historic and protected area with a new restaurant and bar, the opportunity to experience the horse stable with the majestic brewing horses, their spectacular bottle collection, architectural buildings, beer tastings, as well as guided tours in the old cellars, which will reveal kept secrets and stories.

This fall Gl. Strand will showcase the first solo exhibition in the North with the American artist Rache Rose. Rachel Rose stands today as one of the most central artists of her generation. Using different media such as sculptures, drawings and videos, Rachel Rose focuses on the current problems of our times, emphasizing humans’ impact on nature and landscape due to our increasing consumption of technology. 

Rachel Rose creates artwork that combines history with our present time. The focal point of her exhibition Good Morning Midnight is her cinematic work Enclosure, where Rachel Rose investigates the historical preconditions for and parallels to contemporary crisis. The exhibition also presents the video piece The Last Day, which is based on 1.800 individual images recorded in Rose’s children’s bedroom, where her children’s toys represent her interpretation of the earth’s history.

From September 8th the former church and art gallery Nikolaj Kunsthal will host the group exhibition Kunstnernes København (“The artists’ Copenhagen). The exhibition is presented in connection to Copenhagen being World Capital of Architecture 2023 and focuses on the depictions of Copenhagen through the eyes of the artists.

Outside the art gallery on the square Nikolaj Plads the iconic artwork from 1975 “Cornfield on Nikolaj Plads” by Peter Bonnéen is being re-enacted. A golden cornfield will inhabit the square in the middle of the city and kickstart conversations about both the past and the present of the earth we walk upon, cultivate, and fight about.

Designmuseum Denmark’s exhibition Proud unfolds a contemporary narrative about folk and regional costumes to reflect the diverse Denmark of 2023. The Danish designer Nicholas Nybro has created 21 modern folk costumes each telling stories about a region’s identity, diversity, environmental spirit, and sense of belonging. In his unique fashion Nybro plays with symbols and aesthetics to challenge our perception of everyday wear, party wear, work attire, and costumes.

Nybro went on a journey throughout Denmark to measure the pulse of the national spirit, where he immersed himself in the locals’ connection with their hometown to create the exhibition pieces. Local residents and museums have been a great part of the process, which has left a distinct and unmistakable mark on the design of the costumes. It tells a story that transcends geographical and local disparities, revealing a pride in our origins and a sense of belonging.

The Danish artist Hannah Toticki examines religion and faith in a time, where we live without a shared sacred dimension greater than ourselves with her exhibition Storage of the God presented at Copenhagen Contemporary. As religion continues to play a more insignificant role in our society, life’s big questions are left to the individual to handle. Meanwhile, at a time of crises and global challenges, people increasingly find it difficult to navigate in an unpredictable and unmanageable world where stress and anxiety become more common in society.

It is these big questions Toticki addresses using humour, imagination and gravity to spark off a conversation about the postmodern human yearning for the divine, a sacred element to help give meaning to life.

This October, the Karen Blixen Museum, Rungstedlund, opens an exhibition with unique artworks created by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe. The exhibition follows the Danish Netflix-production Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction, which has a global premiere in September. The film is based on Karen Blixen’s story Ehrengard published in 1962.

Her Majesty Queen Margrethe has participated in bringing the film’s scenography to life, in cooperation with the film’s director, Bille August, by designing costume sketches and déecoupages based on the themes of the story.

Rungstedlund is the previous home of the famous author Karen Blixen, located by the coast of Rungsted just north of Copenhagen. Today, it is a preserved author home and a museum with changing exhibitions.

The Hirschprung collection will focus on the artist Marie Krøyer this fall and winter with an exhibition showcasing her art, interior decoration, and design.

Until now, the dominant narrative about Marie Krøyer has been the story of an artist who was married to one of Denmark’s most successful artists, P. S. Krøyer. As a result of her marriage to Krøyer, she stopped painting and exhibiting in the 1890s, seemingly devoting herself entirely to the role of an artist’s wife. But even though she no longer exhibited after 1891, Marie Krøyer remained an active artist. She made her artistic imprint in numerous contexts – including the Krøyers’ homes in Skagen and Copenhagen and several other residences in Skagen.

This new exhibition uncovers new aspects of Marie Krøyer. It aims to make room for new narratives about Danish late nineteenth-century art and to place the artist’s work and contributions in an international context.

In 1920 Den Frie showcased a historical exhibition called Women Artists’ Retrospective Exhibition. 200 female artists participated in the exhibition and exhibited over 700 works of art. It is this historical moment that is the focal point for the new exhibition Bad Timing or How to Write History Without Objects.

Since the exhibition in 1920, many of the works and stories of the women have been lost or are simply just unknown. The exhibition Bad Timing establishes a space to investigate how you can work with the absence of objects and history and make it registerable. This void is materialized in the exhibition through large tableaux of new works by prominent contemporary artists, who work to make absence physical in very different ways.