NIVÅ.- It began with a bored 17-year-old, a few circles drawn on paper and a tiny figure that would eventually become one of Denmark’s most enduring children’s characters. In 2027, Cirkeline turns 70, and Nivaagaards Malerisamling will mark the anniversary with an exhibition devoted to Hanne Hastrup’s original drawings and the imaginative world that grew from them.

Opening April 10 and running through August 22, Cirkeline har fødselsdag — Cirkeline Has a Birthday — will bring together a broad selection of Hastrup’s drawings alongside a creative workshop and a nature school in the museum’s park. The exhibition is conceived for adults as well as children, giving longtime admirers a chance to revisit a character many first encountered decades ago while introducing her quiet, whimsical universe to a new generation.

Cirkeline’s beginnings were modest. In 1957, Hastrup was studying at the School of Drawing and Applied Arts when, during a lesson she found particularly dull, she began making small doodles. One of them developed into a round little figure she initially called Oline. The “O,” however, gradually became a circle, and with it came a new name: Cirkeline.

The character truly found her world a few years later. In 1962, Hastrup and her husband, Jannik, moved to a small property on Hesselrødvej near Karlebo, not far from the museum. There, Cirkeline reappeared on the illustrator’s desk, now living inside a matchbox. The surrounding countryside became part of her universe, a place where the tiny elf could slip out through the window and explore nature beyond the confines of the drawing table.

Soon she was no longer alone. The house had mice, and Hastrup transformed them into Cirkeline’s companions Frederik and Ingolf. Together they tidied the illustrator’s desk, frightened the cat, explored the countryside and ventured into the larger world. Their adventures were gentle and playful, built from the small dramas of everyday life rather than grand spectacle — one of the qualities that helped Cirkeline remain recognizable across generations.





Jannik Hastrup made the first animated films based on Hanne’s drawings in 1967, with Hanne writing the scripts. The couple ultimately created 19 episodes for Danish broadcaster DR between 1967 and 1971. The first Cirkeline book, both written and illustrated by Hanne Hastrup, appeared in 1969. More books and films followed, including the 1998 feature Storbyens mus, for which Hastrup worked on the screenplay and production design.

What makes the coming exhibition particularly fitting is its proximity to the landscape where Cirkeline’s fictional world took shape. The drawings are returning, in a sense, to the area where a matchbox on an illustrator’s desk became a tiny home and the fields and gardens outside Karlebo became the setting for countless adventures.

For Nivaagaards Malerisamling, the exhibition also continues an exploration of children’s illustration that included the popular 2023 presentation devoted to Gunilla Bergström’s Alfons Åberg. This time, the focus falls on Hastrup and a character who has spent seven decades looking almost entirely untouched by age: black hair, a red polka-dot dress, bare feet and a world just large enough for an elf, two mice and an enormous amount of imagination.