NEW YORK, NY.- Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art examines the period formerly known as the Danish Golden Age, a name that belies the economic and political hardships Denmark experienced in the 19th century. Yet this turmoil is what gave rise to a vibrant cultural and philosophical environment with a close-knit community of Danish artists inspired to explore notions of place, identity, and belonging in their work. On view at
The Metropolitan Museum of Art on January 26, Beyond the Light places the drawings, oil sketches, and paintings created by these artists firmly in this period, one that witnessed the transformation of a once-powerful Danish kingdom into a small, somewhat marginalized country at the edge of Europe.
The exhibition is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum, in collaboration with SMK The National Gallery of Denmark.
Beyond the Light tells a powerful story about shifting borders, national identity, and feelings of belonging and displacementall themes that resonate with contemporary audiences all over the world, said Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met. By focusing mainly on drawings and oil sketches of the period, the exhibition is the first to offer a history of 19th-century Denmark that is more personal and nuanced than the more official one often represented by finished paintings.
The exhibition features approximately 100 works from The Met collection, SMK The National Gallery of Denmark, several American public collections, and the private collection of Roberta Olson and Alexander Johnson. It highlights such artists as Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Christen Købke, Constantin Hansen, Martinus Rørbye, and Vilhelm Hammershøi as well as lesser-known figures like Anton Melbye, Johan Thomas Lundbye, Peter Christian Skovgaard, and Heinrich Gustav Ferdinand Holm, among others.
Exhibition Overview
The 19th century was one of the most tumultuous periods in Denmarks historyfrom the disaster of the Napoleonic Wars and the devastating bombardment of Copenhagen to subsequent bankruptcy and mounting antagonism with Germany. Denmark also went from being one of the oldest absolute monarchies with a thousand-year history to a constitutional democracy. Efforts to restore the nations psyche led to a rise in nationalism and, with it, an increased interest in Danish history, customs, culture, and language. This exhibition unfolds in five thematic sectionswith an unprecedented focus on drawingsto explore the art of this period as Danish artists navigated a rapidly changing world.
Upon approaching the galleries, visitors will encounter the beautiful Danish landscape through a dramatic, blown-up version of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersbergs expansive Panorama of the Copenhagen Roads (from SMKs collection) on the outer walls of the exhibition. In this sweeping vista drawn across five sheets of paper, Eckersberg depicts a peaceful view of fishing villages, gardens, forests, harbors, and mills, while also including military batteries and other markers of conflict.
As Denmarks borders diminished drastically and traditional power structures eroded, Danish artists contemplated their identity and how best to portray themselves and their fellow Danes. The exhibitions first section features portraits of individual and groups of artists, such as Constantin Hansens A Group of Danish Artists in Rome (SMK), demonstrating the strong community working together both at home and abroad. A tension between idealism and realism is evident in many of the portraits from this troubled moment in Denmarks history, including Johan Vilhelm Gertners Portrait of Bertel Thorvaldsen (Olson-Johnson Collection) and Christen Købkes Portrait of Professor Frederik Christian Sibbern (SMK).
The second section explores how Danish artists portrayed their immediate surroundings and played a part in the growing nationalist movement. Denmarks first art historian, the ardent nationalist Niels Laurits Høyen, believed that his countrys identity was tied to its distinctive landscape and material culture. He taught at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, organized the Fine Arts Society, and transformed the Royal Collection into a national museum, among other initiatives. After extensive travel through Europe, Høyen embraced the movement to preserve Danish monuments as symbols of national cultural heritage. In response, Danish artists began to draw and paint their countrys cultural, religious, military, and political monuments. Examples include Johan Christian Dahls Copenhagen Harbor by Moonlight (The Met), Købkes Roof Ridge of Frederiksborg Castle with View of Lake, Town and Forest (SMK), and Martinus Rørbyes Viborg, seen from Asmild Klosterhave near Søndersø (SMK).
The exhibitions third section takes the artists outside the recognizable edifices of their society and into the forested landscapes, where they explore ideas of time and history. Denmarks scenery underwent rapid changes in the 19th century due to the effects of industrialization, agricultural expansion, and urban growth. Many Danes, worried they were witnessing the destruction of their homeland, sought to understand their past before irreplaceable traces of it were erased. Danish artists recorded these traces of the ancient world by venturing out into the landscape and observing geological, topographical, and archaeological featuresfrom Johan Thomas Lundbyes depiction of a Stone Age dolmen at sunset (The Morgan Library & Museum) to Peter Vilhelm Carl Kyhns oil sketch of the Kalvebod Strand (Olson-Johnson Collection). Many of the drawings and painted studies from this period were executed on location and are characterized by a heightened awareness of humanitys connections to and interactions with its surroundings.
Denmarks picturesque coastline and long maritime history were a source of inspiration for 19th-century Danish artists. The ever-changing sea became an important symbol of national security and pride, especially in the Royal Danish Navy and Danish merchant fleet, as well as a place of adventure, history, and exploration and a means of past and future prosperity. The exhibitions fourth section consists of pictures exploring the countrys relationship to the water, such as Eckersbergs Anchors in a Copenhagen Square (SMK), and Anton Melbyes The English Fleet Anchored at the Town of Beykoz, North of Istanbul (The Met). Another highlight, Rørbyes romantic painting of Copenhagens harbor, titled View from the Citadel Ramparts in Copenhagen by Moonlight (The Met), captures a moment of calm at the formidable but battered citadel amid a time of national upheaval.
The final section moves across the sea to the lands beyond Denmark, as the artists experienced the people and places of Germany, France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. The Royal Danish Academy, where most 19th-century Danish artists trained, considered a journey abroad integral to an artists education. In addition to visiting museums, galleries, and artists studios, students were urged to examine the architectural ruins of ancient Rome, and many worked en plein air, or outdoors, for the first time. These drawings and oil sketches reflect the people, customs, architecture, and landscape that the artists experienced during their travelsfrom Købkes The Forum, Pompeii, with Vesuvius in the Distance (J. Paul Getty Museum) to Peter Christian Skovgaards Olevano (Olson-Johnson Collection)while speaking to ideas of home, belonging, and travel and return.