Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Vilhelm Lundstrøm Opstilling (1934)
- Specifications
- Description
- The Maker
- Brand:Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Denmark
- Country: Printed in Denmark
- SKU: LA-105393-FJ
- Material: Printed on paper.
- Dimensions:33.1" x 23.4" (A1)
Inspired by French Cubism, Lundstrøm introduced collage in Danish art in 1917. He created a series of so-called pak-kasse pictures—assemblages—made with pieces of painted wood in geometrically abstract shapes.
In his subsequent painting, Lundstrø:m sought new forms of expression. He turned to the great masters of art history and was inspired by El Greco's dreamlike visions and Paul Cezanne's figurative style. The result was his so-called "curled style", which can be seen, for example, in the work, Frokost i det grø:nne (1920), where he paraphrases Eduard Manet's well-known work of the same name.
Later, Lundstrø:m cultivated a simpler, geometric idiom. Together with Svend Johansen, Axel Salto and Karl Larsen, he formed the artist group De Fire.
Lundstrø:m worked all his life with still life and in his late compositions he lets clean, painted surfaces of color determine the form. He uses space-creating elements such as perspective lines, highlights and shadows. But the space becomes ambiguous because the elements are treated more as abstract forms with an intrinsic value than as illusionistic devices.
Lundstrø:m's message to a confused, battered and incoherent time can be said to be overview, balance and openness.
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
