The Modern Breakthrough: Masterpieces from the Museum’s Collection

The Hirschsprung Collection has rehung its three main galleries, along with Gallery 6, with works from the museum’s own collection. The new display brings together 116 works by some of the most significant painters in Danish art.

Created during the period known as the Modern Breakthrough, the works offer a chance to rediscover a number of paintings that have spent many years in storage and can now once again be experienced in the museum’s galleries. The display also presents several of the museum’s masterpieces in a new context, allowing them to unfold in fresh and compelling ways.

We hope you will enjoy exploring these small gems and great masterpieces of Danish art.

In Gallery 19, the focus is on atmosphere, sensation and sensory experience. Here, you will encounter artists such as the Symbolists Vilhelm Hammershøi, Johan Rohde and Ejnar Nielsen, who each explored quiet, introspective and sensuous modes of expression in their work.

Gallery 20 is dedicated to the rebels: artists who challenged the conventions of the 19th century and contemporary ideas about gender and relationships. Bertha Wegmann, Kristian Zahrtmann, Nicoline Tuxen and Augusta Dohlmann are among the artists whose works tell stories of strong bonds of friendship, love and affection, both between people and between humans and animals.

Gallery 21 is devoted to life in Skagen. Here, the Skagen Painters are represented by works by P.S. Krøyer, Anna and Michael Ancher, among others. The motifs depict the work of the fishermen, family life and the harsh realities of rural life, which stood in striking contrast to life in the city.

In Gallery 6, we welcome the arrival of spring. Here, works inspired by spring fill the room and bring light into the museum’s galleries. Among the artists represented are Harald Slott-Møller, Fritz Syberg and L.A. Ring, who created three of the museum’s masterpieces, each evoking the coming of spring.