Image by Benita Hussain

Built into the former estate and villa of a man whose three wives were named Louise is the most-visited museum in Denmark. The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, located 35 km north of Copenhagen, consistently captures the international modern and contemporary art world’s zeitgeist to a surprising degree considering its rural location in Humlebæk.
 
Overlooking the Øresund Sound (on the clearest days, visitors can see the Swedish province of Skania), the estate was named by the previous owner Alexander Brun, but it was his successor Knud Jensen who decided to create the museum in 1958. Hiring Danish architects to design an organic, circular-shaped building, he also sought to preserve and develop the 1856 villa that now houses a large part of the permanent collection.

The permanent collection of more than 3,000 post- 1945 works is the largest in Scandinavia, with works by Picasso, Giacometti, Dubuffet, Yves Klein, Warhol, Rauschenberg, and Philip Guston. In addition to the permanent collection, every year the museum holds four to six temporary exhibitions by modern and contemporary art in a series called Louisiana Contemporary.

Image by Benita Hussain

The art, however, is not the only draw of the museum. The building itself is marvel, a study of strong, but not overpowering, contextual architecture, that still holds true to ideals of simple, elegant Scandinavian design. Additionally, the Louisiana Shop, as one of Denmark’s leading design stores, doles out the type of coffee table books and products that will (finally!) allow you to say that those sleek, eco-friendly lamps on your wall are not from Ikea.
 
To round out all their cultural offerings, Louisiana opened its own concert hall in 1976, in which they now host European musical acts as well as Louisiana Live, regularly-scheduled art conversations held on Tuesday and Thursdays.
 
For those more interested in a nature escape than a day of art or music, the grounds of museum offer walking trails throughout the Lake Garden as well as the Sculpture Garden, which peppers the seaside landscape with works by Henry Moore and Alexander Calder. Even the 10 minute walk to and from the Humlebæk Train Station is a welcome change from the hustle of Copenhagen, although it also shows visitors that there is really nothing else in Humlebæk besides countryside cottages and the museum.
 
And finally, when hunger strikes, the outdoor cafe serves artfully-prepared Danish fare–including, most importantly, herring and a deconstructed / post-modern smørrebrød.
 
Louisiana really finds the balance among nature, art, design and food, making it a worthwhile daytrip for city-weary travelers.

Image by Benita Hussain

By Benita Hussain

“This country is mild, smiling, fantastic, mighty, wild, wonderful and awe-inspiring.  It is Skagen–There is no other place on the face of this earth like it.”
 
Norwegian painter Christian Krohg may have used one too many superlatives when describing the northernmost city of Denmark’s Jylland peninsula; however, anyone who visits Skagen will understand how a more lyrical description would be shocked out of him by the land’s striking beauty.  There is, indeed, no other place on the face of this earth like it.

The exquisite landscape of Skagen was so alluring that Krohg and his artist and writer friends flocked to what was once a sparsely–populated fishing village in the late-1800s–drawn by the way the Northern Lights and sun reflected off the coast and greenery, and the Blue Hour, when the line between sea and sky would disappear at dusk.  The rapid desertification of Northern Jylland, still apparent at nearby Rabjerg Mile (the largest moving dunes in Northern Europe), also added to Skagen’s dichotomous nature.
 
Influenced by the en plein air style of the French Impressionists, the original eight Skagen Painters, also followed the Barbizon School’s nature / realist movement, included artist Jean-Francois Millet.  The eponymous artists’ colony’s hope was to capture the outdoor splendor of Skagen’s coastline as well as the tip of Grenen, the beach where the North Sea and Baltic Sea crash against each other, just to Skagen’s north. Their depictions of the sea and its revelers and fishermen, as well as their portraits of the indoors, emphasized a mix of the Scandinavian light and shadows in Impressionistic ways, years before the movement even occurred.
 

Image by Benita Hussain

While the Skagen Painters helped make the city famous, the “bohemian” reputation they built drew many other artists that also became entranced with its luminosity and stark nature as well as the low-profile yellow houses with red-tiled roofs, for which Skagen became known.  With artists came, as is often the case, tourists, and Skagen now remains a vacation spot that attracts mainly high-end travelers from Copenhagen, but one that has still managed to keep its charm despite the influx (likely because nature has already done the work).

 
Art Museum:

In 1908, during one of their regular meetings at Brøndum’s Hotel, which was owned by the family of one the painters, Anna Ancher, the colony launched their own museum.  After the death of colony member P.S. Kroyer, his home at Skagen Plantation became the museum.  In 1919, the Brøndum Hotel’s old garden was donated to colony, where the museum was completed in 1928.  In 1997, the museum was moved to its final building at the Technical School, where 1800 works of art are now on display.
 
Skagen’s Museum, Brøndumsvej 4, DK-9990 Skagen, +45 98 44 64 44
 
Brøndum’s Hotel, Ancerhsvej 3, DK-9990 Skagen, +45 98 44 15 55
 
Other Museums:

Less famous than the museum devoted to the Skagen Painters is the one devoted to teddybears.  Yes. Teddybears.  This writer never had the chance to view this private collection of owner Jonna Thygesen, but recommends it nonetheless.
 
Skagen Bamsemuseum, Oddevej-2/A, 9990-DK Skagen, +45 98 44 21 08
 
And for Scandinavian or viking history buffs, visit the Museum of Local History, which offers an open-air experience and exhibit displaying houses and crafts from Skagen in the past 200 years.
 
Skagen’s Museum of Local History, P.K. Nielsensvej 8-10, 9990-DK Skagen
 
Cultural landmarks:

The St. Laurence Church, originally named after seafarers’ and Skagen’s patron saint, and now known as the Sanded Church, was the largest church in the region at the time of its building in the 14th century.  The increased desertification of the Northern Jylland did not spare the church and caused the town to close it in 1795.  When the Danish writer and poet visited Skagen in 1860, he found the tower (the only visible portion) so inspiring, he wrote “A Story from the Dunes:”
 
“The drifting sands have covered the enormous arches. The dunes and wild roses cover the church, where the rambler now walks up to its steeple, which points up out of the sand, a colossal gravestone, visible for miles; no king ever had one more magnificent! Nobody disturbs the rest of this corpse. Nobody knows it or knew it before now – the storm sang it to me between the dunes!”
 
The Sanded Church, Skagen Klitplantage, , 9990-DK Skagen, +45 98 44 43 71
 
The seafarers of Jylland needed lighthouses, and while the Vippefyret, or tipping lantern, of Skagen, built in 1627, was inventive, it wasn’t that effective.  A restored version of the lighthouse is now just a cool sight and a style that can only be found in a few places in Dentmark.
 
Skagen Vippefyret, Gl. Fyrvej 1, 9990-DK Skagen, [phone not available]
 
Music Festivals:

By Benita Hussain

Each July, folk musicians from around the world join traditional Scandinavian artists for the Skagen Festival, a multi-day event held at four venues, including an outdoor campsite for the biggest names.  This year’s festival even included U.S. artist Arlo Guthrie.  Many of the concerts are free of charge, but check the website for more information.
 
Skagen Festival [see website for more information]
 
Access:

Skagen is 41km north of Frederikshavn and about 50km northeast of the port town of Hirtshals.  Trains in Denmark are both efficient and comprehensive.  To reach Skagen by train, travelers must first get to Frederikshavn, which has 35-minute trains that run about once an hour.  Travelers can reach Frederikshavn from the major Jylland cities of Aarlborg (1.5 hours) or Aarhus (3 hours), or from Copenhagen (7 hours).
 
Additionally, the summer time Skagerakkeren bus connects Skagen to other parts of Northern Jylland.

Photo: c Akira Chiba - Visitors to the National Gallery in Oslo check out Edvard Munch's 'Scream'

Since we’re on the topic of Munch today, we thought we’d take a look at how this enigmatic and deeply depressive artist’s most famous work has become one of the most influential and most recognizable in pop-culture. It’s an image that writers and filmmakers can’t seem to shake and we know, you know exactly which one we’re talking about…
 
Painted in 1883, The Scream is by and far Edvard Munch’s most famous work, made even more famous after two separate museum heists stole two different copies of the painting in a ten-year time-span (both were thankfully recovered). But what is it about The Scream that has kept our attention all these years? Munch painted the work during one of his most prolific times as an artist, a time when he was exploring themes of fear, death, melancholy and loneliness. The Scream, well, screams all those themes in its bold brushstrokes, striking color and above all, the captivating subject of the hollow, frightened and frightening figure on the bridge. A figure we all can relate to at some point in our lives.
 

FILM:

The most well known film to portray The Scream is the cleverly titled Scream. If you haven’t seen Scream, or its subsequent sequels, the film takes place in a small town where a series of violent murders are taking place. Killers wearing masks of Munch’s screaming figure commit the murders, hunting down attractive teenagers as their prey.
 
ADVERTISING:

In 2006, M&M’s launched a campaign featuring The Scream for its dark chocolate candies. They also offered a reward of two million M&Ms to the person who ensured the safe return of the Scream that was stolen in 2004. The painting was recovered days later, it is unknown if the candy prize was what sealed the deal but we like to think so.
 
LITERATURE:

Philip K. Dick wrote some of the strangest works of fiction ever to be published. Is it any surprise that he chose to set a pivotal scene in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep at a Munch exhibit featuring The Scream? You may not have read DADoES (you should, it’s great) but perhaps you saw the film version, the much less quirkily named, Blade Runner directed by Ridley Scott.
 
Read more about Edvard Munch and take a walk in his footsteps with Art + Travel.

Photo: ©Villena See it on pg. 14 of our Film + Travel guide to Europe.

In a land which oscillates between 24 hours of sunlight to days of total darkness, Scandinavia is a region of extremes. Learn about the strange rituals at Denmark’s Filmbyen, or “Film City,” then visit the volcanic isle of Iceland, the Nordic metropoles of Oslo and Copenhagen and the Sweden of Ingmar Bergman.

About Your Guide: Enrique Ramirez is an architecture historian who writes about cities and film, and fortunately has time to travel.

photo: iStock