Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Poul Gernes – Untitled - Lottery Stripes (1965-1966)
- Specifications
- Description
- The Maker
- Brand:Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Denmark
- Country: Printed in Denmark
- SKU: LA-11462-FJ-OH
- Material: Printed on paper.
- Dimensions:33.5" x 20"
Poul Gernes did not strive for art historical or intellectual knowledge to understand or interpret his works. What was really important was that people became happy and comfortable looking at and living with them—as is evident from his probably best-known works, the large, public decoration projects such as the Palads cinema in Copenhagen and Herlev Hospital.
Today, many associate Poul Gernes with this kind of cool aesthetics and brightly colored joy. But there is definitely also a confrontational and strongly critical side of the artist.
Poul Gernes comes out of the constructivist tradition, also politically, and at the beginning of the 1960s became a focal point for the Ex-school, the Experimental Art School (1961-1972), which with one stroke came to dominate not only contemporary art, but also art history writing henceforth. New methods, new materials, a new perception of the role of art and the artist in society were on the agenda.
With their experimental attitude, the artists set in motion a break-up on all fronts, and all this is unfolding precisely where Denmark is going from a post-war society to a welfare state, with many new arrangements and experiments as a result. A period in which Louisiana also has some shares.
From the beginning, the founder, Knud W. Jensen, intended for the museum to be a home for modern Danish art. But after only a few years he changed course, and instead of being a predominantly Danish collection, Louisiana became an international museum with many internationally renowned works.
Louisiana's close contact and collaboration with the international arts and cultural milieu has since been one of the museum's greatest strengths. And also one of the main reasons that it has been possible for Louisiana to present an exhibition program that has resonated so strongly with the public over the years. Louisiana has thus achieved a standing as one of the world's most respected exhibition venues, and in the future, it will be able to attract exhibitions and artists at a level that few other museums—either in Denmark or abroad—can match.
Knud W. Jensen put into action many of the period's visionary ideas about modern museum operation, including a desire for art to have a wide audience. It has always been the view at Louisiana that art is not just for an elite but includes experiences and visions for the many.
Why is it called Louisiana?
Many people wonder about the name of the museum. The short explanation is this—a nobleman and his three wives.
Knud W. Jensen chose to "take over" the name of the country house that he later converted to a museum. The property had been built and named in 1855 by Alexander Brun (1814-93), who was an officer and Master of the Royal Hunt and who married three women who were all named Louise.
Here at Louisiana, he was a pioneer in beekeeping and the cultivation of fruit trees.
From the beginning, it was Knud W. Jensen's vision to create a museum with soul, where the public could encounter artwork—not as something pretentious, but rather something that spoke directly to the viewer. And he emphasized the need for "supplementary content" that could help bring alive and enrich the environment: The more opportunities for experience that the program offers, the more Louisiana lives up to its idea—to be a 'musical meeting place' and a milieu that is engaged in contemporary life.
—Knud W. Jensen
