NIVAAGAARD.- The Nivaagaards Malerisamling is offering a fresh look at one of Denmark's most meditative painters, Janus la Cour (1837-1909), in a new special exhibition that opens this winter. Titled "A Quiet Gaze," the show moves beyond traditional landscape painting to reveal la Cour’s almost geological fascination with the silent, uninhabited world.
La Cour’s work stands apart from his contemporaries. His canvases are consistently devoid of human presence, a deliberate choice that excludes not only people but also the clamor of the era’s industrialization. Instead, he directs his focus to the earth itself, zooming in on minute details—the texture of a rock or the sweep of a cliff face. This intense focus, often captured in series of works painted years apart, invites viewers to share in a moment of tranquil contemplation. His landscapes, from the coasts of Eastern Jutland to the mountains of Italy, are not battlegrounds for grand human narratives but spaces of profound, almost crushing, peace.
A highlight of the exhibition is the inclusion of works by the late Per Kirkeby (1938-2018). Kirkeby, a renowned artist with a background in geology, was a great admirer of la Cour and even owned three of his paintings, which are featured in the show. This unique pairing creates a fascinating dialogue between two artists separated by generations, yet united by a shared, deep-seated connection to the earth's forms and history.
The exhibition is built around a singular collection of la Cour’s works, meticulously assembled over 15 years by art collector Christoph Müller in Berlin. It is also the result of a collaboration with Museum Kunst der Westküste and the celebrated German author and art historian Florian Illies.
For those seeking a moment of peace away from the noise of modern life, the Nivaagaards Malerisamling offers not just a retrospective, but a quiet, moving journey into the enduring silence of nature. The museum itself, with its unique collection and beautiful setting in a rhododendron park—home to the "Sanctuary for Endangered Words"—provides a fitting backdrop for la Cour's timeless art.
