Selected grants

The temporary closure of cultural institutions in Denmark and the wider impact of the serious health crisis is throwing Danish art museums into a severe economic situation. To address this, the New Carlsberg Foundation is establishing an extraordinary fund to help art museums recover.

Based on four archetypes Alexander Tovborg has created a new religion in his art project New Eternity (2010–12). Two of the archetypes are now on display at Museum of Religious Art in Lemvig. With support from the New Carlsberg Foundation the museum has acquired two of Tovborg’s paintings.

The sculptor Niels Hansen Jacobsen’s strange and unsettling artworks are shown at the Parisian Musée Bourdelle in the first exhibition in the city dedicated exclusively to the artist. The founder of the New Carlsberg Foundation, Carl Jacobsen, was one of the few to appreciate Hansen Jacobsen’s unusual sculptures from an early time. The New Carlsberg Foundation has supported the catalogue for the Paris exhibition.

As a student of some of the leading artists of the Danish Golden Age, including Rørbye, Købke and Eckersberg, Frølich learned drawing and painting from the best. Eckersberg’s influence in particular is evident in this early life study by Frølich, which the Skovgaard Museum has now acquired with funds from the Danish Agency of Culture and Palaces and the New Carlsberg Foundation.

The tenth anniversary of the New Carlsberg Foundation’s Research Initiative is celebrated with another grant of DKK 12 million for art research.

Just over two decades ago, Wilhelm Marstrand’s Liggende Model (Reclining Nude) was bought by a private Swiss collector at a Danish auction. When the Danish authorities blocked the export of the painting, the new owner promptly packed the little Golden Age gem away in a safe-deposit box in Copenhagen. Now, Marstrand’s painting has finally found a permanent home at The Nivaagaard Collection, thanks in part to support from the New Carlsberg Foundation.

With grants from the New Carlsberg Foundation, the art museums Fuglsang Kunstmuseum, HEART and Sorø Kunstmuseum have acquired several important works by Gunnar Aagaard Andersen. The acquisitions are significant contributions to the museums’ collections of Danish concrete art.

Adam og Eva (Adam and Eve) from 1892 is one of Kristian Zahrtmann’s rare treatments of a Biblical topic as well as a rare example of a female nude by the painter. With support from the Danish Agency of Culture and Palaces and the New Carlsberg Foundation, Faaborg Museum can now add the painting to its collection.

Hats, bonnets, veils and hair ornaments ... In her characteristic subtle art photographs, Trine Søndergaard has depicted 19th-century headgear from the Skive region in 17 photographic works. The photo series Hovedtøj (Headgear), which is currently shown at Skive Museum, now finds a permanent home at the museum thanks to a donation from the New Carlsberg Foundation.

Works of art by leading contemporary artists have moved into the Danish Cultural Institute’s offices in central Copenhagen. The art infusion includes two human-size parrots that invite employees and visitors to reconsider the social situation in the meeting room.

Cannibalism, mounds of entrails and little homunculi kicking at torn-off heads. Christian Lemmerz’s monumental judgment-day vision Dante’s Dream is not for the faint of heart. The artist’s principal work, which comprises 18 large drawings, was recently acquired by Randers Museum of Art thanks to grants from the New Carlsberg Foundation and other donors.

A bronze hourglass weighing more than a ton and standing five metres tall now stands on the square in front the Western High Court in the city of Viborg. The huge sculpture was created by the visual artist Mogens Møller based on a donation from the New Carlsberg Foundation.

Danish contemporary art comes to Paris with the exhibition Meanwhile in Denmark. The exhibition is presented by Maison du Danemark and accompanied by a catalogue funded by the New Carlsberg Foundation.

Mirage for the Department of Nuclear Medicine & PET-Centre is the name of Lars Nørgård’s decorative project for the new department at Aarhus University Hospital. The project, which was realized with a grant from the New Carlsberg Foundation, is a series of four high-energy paintings that counterpoint and engage in dialogue with the hospital’s robust architecture.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby has made a strong name for herself in the international art scene in recent years with figurative and interior images that are simultaneously classical and groundbreaking. A donation from the New Carlsberg Foundation has now enabled SMK, the national gallery of Denmark, to acquire one of her principal pieces.

Art Museums of Skagen recently acquired a principal piece by the Skagen painter Laurits Tuxen. The painting, Aftenselskab i Atelieret på Strandvejen (Evening Party in the Studio on Strandvejen) marks a new direction in Tuxen’s late figure compositions.