Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Encyclopedia
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum
located directly on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, 35 km (21.7 mi) north of Copenhagen
, Denmark
. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark with an extensive permanent collection of modern
and contemporary art
, dating from World War II
and up until now, as well as a comprehensive programme of special exhibitions. The museum is also acknowledged as a milestone in modern Danish architecture, noted for the synthesis it creates of art, architecture and landscape.
The museum is included in the Patricia Schultz book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die
and #90 on a list of most visited art museums in the world (2010).
The museum was created in 1958 by Knud W. Jensen, the owner at the time. He contacted architects Vilhelm Wohlert
and Jørgen Bo who spent a few months walking around the property before deciding how a new construction would best fit into the landscape. This study resulted in the first version of the museum consisting of three buildings connected by glass corridors. Since then it has been extended several times until it reached its present circular shape in 1991.
s and videos dating from World War II
up to now, including works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein
, Andy Warhol
, Anselm Kiefer
, Alberto Giacometti
, Pablo Picasso
, Yves Klein
, Robert Rauschenberg
and Asger Jorn
. The videos are often housed in room settings where the viewer is made to feel part of the scene being portrayed. Perched above the sea, there is a sculpture
garden between the museum's two wings with works by artist
s including Henry Moore
, Alexander Calder
, and Jean Arp
.
. Consisting of more than 400 objects, the collection was a donation from the Wessel-Bagge Foundation in 2001. It is the personal collection left by Danish Niels-Wessel Bagge was a Danish dancer, choreographer and art collector living in California, who died in 1990.
.
It contains works by such artists as Jean Arp
, Max Ernst
, Max Bill
, Alexander Calder
, Henri Laurens
, Louise Bourgeois
, Joan Miró
and Henry Moore
. The sculptures are either placed so that they can be viewed from within, in special sculpture yards or independently around the gardens, forming a synthesis with the lawns, the trees and the sea. There are also examples of site-specific art
by such artists as Enzo Cucchi
, Dani Karavan
and George Trakas.
1995 —: Lars Nittve
1998 —: Steingrim Laursen
2000 —: Poul Erik Tøjner
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
located directly on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, 35 km (21.7 mi) north of Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark with an extensive permanent collection of modern
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
and contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
, dating from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and up until now, as well as a comprehensive programme of special exhibitions. The museum is also acknowledged as a milestone in modern Danish architecture, noted for the synthesis it creates of art, architecture and landscape.
The museum is included in the Patricia Schultz book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die
1,000 Places to See Before You Die
1,000 Places to See Before You Die is a 2003 travel book by Patricia Schultz.Among the "1,000 places" in the book are historic ones such as Robert Louis Stevenson's home in Western Samoa and the trail of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the United States, cultural ones such as the Oregon...
and #90 on a list of most visited art museums in the world (2010).
History
The name of the museum derives from the first owner of the property, Alexander Brun, who named the villa after his three wives, all named Louise.The museum was created in 1958 by Knud W. Jensen, the owner at the time. He contacted architects Vilhelm Wohlert
Vilhelm Wohlert
Vilhelm Wohlert was a Danish architect.Wohlert was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts' School of Architecture, where one of his teachers was Kaare Klint. In 1958 he and his partner Jørgen Bo started work on the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, a project on which they would work for...
and Jørgen Bo who spent a few months walking around the property before deciding how a new construction would best fit into the landscape. This study resulted in the first version of the museum consisting of three buildings connected by glass corridors. Since then it has been extended several times until it reached its present circular shape in 1991.
Modern art
It has a wide range of modern art paintings, sculptureSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
s and videos dating from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
up to now, including works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein
Roy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer
Anselm Kiefer is a German painter and sculptor. He studied with Joseph Beuys and Peter Dreher during the 1970s. His works incorporate materials such as straw, ash, clay, lead, and shellac...
, Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
, Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Yves Klein
Yves Klein
Yves Klein was a French artist considered an important figure in post-war European art. He is the leading member of the French artistic movement of Nouveau réalisme founded in 1960 by the art critic Pierre Restany...
, Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
and Asger Jorn
Asger Jorn
Asger Oluf Jorn was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International...
. The videos are often housed in room settings where the viewer is made to feel part of the scene being portrayed. Perched above the sea, there is a sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
garden between the museum's two wings with works by artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
s including Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
, Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
, and Jean Arp
Jean Arp
Jean Arp / Hans Arp was a German-French, or Alsatian, sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper....
.
Wessel-Bagge collection
Besides the collection of modern art, Louisiana also displays a collection of Pre-Columbian artPre-Columbian art
Pre-Columbian art is the visual arts of indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, North, Central, and South Americas until the late 15th and early 16th centuries, and the time period marked by Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas....
. Consisting of more than 400 objects, the collection was a donation from the Wessel-Bagge Foundation in 2001. It is the personal collection left by Danish Niels-Wessel Bagge was a Danish dancer, choreographer and art collector living in California, who died in 1990.
Concert hall
The Concert Hall was built in 1976 in connection with the West Wing which had been built in 1966 and 1971. Its accustics make it especially fit for chamber music but its is also used for other musical genre as well as a wide array of others events and activities such as debates, lectures and symposiums. The chairs are designed by Poul Kjærholm and the rear wall is decorated with paintings created for the site by Sam FrancisSam Francis
Samuel Lewis Francis was an American painter and printmaker.-Early life:...
.
Sculpture garden
The grounds around the museum houses a landscaped sculpture garden. It is made up by a plateau and the sloping terrain towards Øresund and is dominated by huge, ancient speciment trees and sweaping vistas of the sea.It contains works by such artists as Jean Arp
Jean Arp
Jean Arp / Hans Arp was a German-French, or Alsatian, sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist in other media such as torn and pasted paper....
, Max Ernst
Max Ernst
Max Ernst was a German painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was one of the primary pioneers of the Dada movement and Surrealism.-Early life:...
, Max Bill
Max Bill
Max Bill was a Swiss architect, artist, painter, typeface designer, industrial designer and graphic designer.Bill was born in Winterthur...
, Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
, Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens
Henri Laurens was a French sculptor and illustrator.-Early life and education:Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor...
, Louise Bourgeois
Louise Bourgeois
Louise Joséphine Bourgeois , was a renowned French-American artist and sculptor, best known for her contributions to both modern and contemporary art, and for her spider structures, titled Maman, which resulted in her being nicknamed the Spiderwoman...
, Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
and Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
. The sculptures are either placed so that they can be viewed from within, in special sculpture yards or independently around the gardens, forming a synthesis with the lawns, the trees and the sea. There are also examples of site-specific art
Site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...
by such artists as Enzo Cucchi
Enzo Cucchi
Enzo Cucchi is an Italian painter. A native of Morro d'Alba, province of Ancona, he was a key member of the Italian Transavanguardia movement, along with fellow countrymen Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Paladino, Nicola De Maria, and Sandro Chia...
, Dani Karavan
Dani Karavan
Dani Karavan is an Israeli sculptor best known for site specific memorials and monuments which merge into the environment, though he has made important installations as well as other significant contributions to art and architecture.- Biography :Dani Karavan's father Abraham was the chief...
and George Trakas.
Directors
1958 —: Knud W. Jensen1995 —: Lars Nittve
Lars Nittve
Lars Nittve is a Swedish museologist and art critic. Between 1979 and 1985 he was an art critic on the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet....
1998 —: Steingrim Laursen
2000 —: Poul Erik Tøjner
Poul Erik Tøjner
Poul Erik Tøjner is a Danish museum director and art critic. Since 2000 he has been director of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark.-Biography:...