iThe Hirschsprung CollectionØsterbro
The Funen Painters. Art Above All!
Three artist couples from the Funen colony, including Fritz and Anna Syberg and Alhed and Johannes Larsen, and the struggle to share both a life and an artistic practice.
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"Art above all!" the painter Alhed Larsen wrote in a letter in 1893. Soon she, Anna Syberg and Christine Swane were painting in the gaps between housework, while their husbands painted them. You get both sides on the walls: Fritz Syberg's wife and children in a flowering garden, and Alhed's row of orange crown imperials.
The show is built on the three couples' letters and archive material, and follows them from youthful romances to the Swanes' divorce and the early deaths of Anna and Alhed. It reworks Kunstmuseum Brandts' 2023 show, hung here with turquoise-painted benches.
Kristeligt Dagblad gave it four out of six and called it lavish, and Kontrast's critic said it brings back the feel of Funen. The catch, per Kulturkupeen: there are no clear biographies, and its reviewer wrote down every birth year to keep track. Entry is the DKK 110 museum ticket (DKK 75 under 29, free under 18), and it's open until 20:00 on the last Thursday of the month.
Editor's pick
Three Funen colony couples, including Fritz and Anna Syberg and Alhed and Johannes Larsen, and what it took to share a life and a practice. Anyone who has shared a flat and a desk with a partner knows the problem.
Look for
Fritz Syberg's wife and children at Pilegården (1909)
Two girls in pale pink and white stand among purple flowers in the foreground while their mother, in white, stands under the fruit trees behind them.
Alhed Larsen's Crown Imperials (1910)
A row of orange crown imperials hangs its bells from tall stems above a mass of green leaves, painted by the woman who wrote "Art above all!"
Fritz Syberg's An Artist Family (1899)
In this watercolour and ink, a man in a blue jacket sits hunched on a bench while a woman sits at the window with her back to him.
The Artist's Wife Holding Out Her Child (1895)
Syberg's pen-and-ink drawing, lent by the SMK, shows a woman on the edge of a bed holding a baby out in front of her.
Good for
- Evening Visits
- Nerding Out
- Rainy Days
Skip if
You want the paintings without the backstory: the show is built on letters and the couples' lives.
With kids
Under-18s get in free.
Also at The Hirschsprung Collection
On now nearby
Nearby
Image credits
9
- The Funen Painters. Art Above All!Fritz Syberg / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
- Couples Therapy – Society on the couchCourtesy of SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Sending all my love — Vintage Postcards from the Middle EastCourtesy of The David Collection
- The Art of Desire – an Ottoman Sex Manual and its Context (Begærets Kunst)Courtesy of The David Collection
- The Hirschsprung CollectionDaderot / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
- SMK – National Gallery of DenmarkJiří Komárek / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Natural History Museum of DenmarkOrigins DK / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Rosenborg CastleFalk2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The David CollectionOrf3us / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain