Danish art
The requirements of the court and aristocracy were mainly for portraits, usually by imported artists, and it was not until the 18th century that large numbers of Danes were trained in contemporary styles.
A possibly alien find in Denmark is the Gundestrup cauldron, a richly decorated silver vessel, thought to date to the 1st century BC.
The establishment of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 1754 followed the general European pattern, and was intended to develop a national school and reduce the need to import artists from other countries.
Motifs for his works (reliefs, statues, and busts) were drawn mostly from Greek mythology, but he also created portraits of important personalities, as in his tomb monument for Pope Pius VII in St Peter's Basilica, Rome.
Interior scenes, often small portrait groups, are also common, with a similar treatment of humble domestic objects and furniture, often of the artist's circle of friends.
At the end of the period painting style, especially in landscape art, became caught up in the political issue of the Schleswig-Holstein Question, a vital matter for Danes, but notoriously impenetrable for most others in Europe.
Artists include: Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819–1881) was born in Żoliborz (Jolibord) a borough of Warsaw but moved to Denmark when she married Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau in 1846.
The mild eroticism of a few of her paintings was looked upon unfavourably by many at the time but she remained aloof, perhaps reassured by the fact that some of her husband's sculptures were erotic in nature.
[9] Carl Heinrich Bloch (1834–1890) was a rare Danish history painter, mostly of Biblical subjects, who developed his academic style in Italy before returning to Copenhagen in 1866.
[10] In 1871, Holger Drachmann (1846–1908) and Karl Madsen (1855–1938) visited Skagen in the far north of Jutland where they quickly built up one of Scandinavia's most successful artists' colonies.
Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) was considered something of an enigma in his lifetime but is now remembered mainly for his subdued paintings of interiors, usually empty spaces (as in Dust Motes Dancing in Sunbeams) but occasionally with a solitary figure.
Around the same time, Edvard Weie, the Swedish artist Karl Isakson, Olaf Rude, Kræsten Iversen, Oluf Høst and Niels Lergaard were attracted by the natural beauty of the Baltic islands of Bornholm and the much smaller Christiansø.
Painters of nature and everyday life such as Erik Hoppe and Knud Agger initiated the highly successful Grønningen association which provided a platform for exhibitions in Copenhagen.
[15] Sigurd Swane (1879–1973) was initially influenced by the work of the Fauves in Paris when he began a series of paintings of woodlands rich in greens, yellows and blues.
After meeting artists such as Constant Nieuwenhuys, Appel and Dotremont, he became the driving force behind the Cobra group where he excelled in ceramics but also continued to paint in oils.
On the occasion of her 50th birthday in 1990, Queen Margrethe II decided to use a gift from industry of 13 million Danish crowns to produce a series of tapestries tracing the history of Denmark from the beginnings to the present day.
Woven by the historic Manufacture des Gobelins in Paris, the tapestries were based on full-sized sketches by the versatile Danish artist Bjørn Nørgaard.
[34] Completed in 1999, they now hang in the Great Hall at Christiansborg Palace Following in the footsteps of Arne Jacobsen, Denmark has had some outstanding successes in contemporary architecture.
Johann Otto von Spreckelsen, relying on simple geometrical figures, designed the Grande Arche at La Défense in Puteaux, near Paris.
[35] Jørn Utzon's iconic Sydney Opera House earned him the distinction of becoming only the second person to have his work recognized as a World Heritage Site while still alive.
[36] Bjarke Ingels whom the Wall Street Journal in October 2011 named the Innovator of the Year for architecture and, in July 2012, cited him as "rapidly becoming one of the design world's rising stars" in light of his extensive international projects.
