Spring is here (well, it was a week ago), and all around the city centre, museums are getting ready to celebrate the season as well as the inauguration of a new museum district: Parkmuseerne. The collaboration is founded by six museums known for their outstanding collections of art and natural heritage. Situated in the city’s green haven, Parkmuseerne offers joint events and exhibitions that link together architecture, museums and parks. The first joint exhibition will be launched in mid-March under the theme of flowers – a motif that will be explored in a variety of artistic expressions, from flower patterns in Islamic Art to hand-coloured copper plates.
Plant Motifs in the Art of Islam
Plant motifs in the form of vines, leaves, flowers, fruits and trees are among those most frequently used in Islamic art. They can be readily recognisable, but also stylised or denaturalised, like the fantastic arabesque ones. The special exhibition Flora Islamica illustrates and analyses the overwhelming visual influence that plant motifs have had in the Islamic world. You will experience the many exotic depictions of plants and flowers as seen through the eyes of Muslim artists.
David Collection, Kronprinsessegade 30-32, Cph K; started March 22, ends Oct 27, open 13:00-17:00
Flora Danica
It began with cloudberries. Since then, thousands of flowers, algae and fungi have been designed and printed in a magnificent book about Denmark’s wild plants: ‘Flora Danica’. The exhibition Flora Danica shows a variety of original, hand-coloured copper prints side by side with contemporary Danish artists’ interpretations of ‘Flora Danica’. Art and science meet in an exhibition, which includes the works of Tal R, Marianne Grønnow, John Kørner and Peter Holst Henckel. Flora Danica was 123 years in the making and paid for by King Frederik V. The purpose was to gather knowledge about the Danish kingdom of wild flora to explore what it could be used for – from textiles to colour production.
Geological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Øster Voldgade 5-7, Cph K; started March 20, open 10:00-16:00
A Flowering Season
With the exhibition A Flowering Season, Hirschsprung Collection presents its spring paintings from the 1890s. This was a time when artists took a particular interest in the seasons, not least the season of spring – a motif that recurs in the period’s visual arts, music and literature. The exhibition focuses on three of the museum’s most important major works by LA Ring, Fritz Syberg and Harald Slott-Møller.
Hirschsprung Collection, Stockholmsgade 20, Cph Ø; started March 19, ends June 23, open 10:00-16:00
Flowers and World Views
Step into a splendid garden filled with flower paintings when the exhibition Flowers and World Views opens at the National Gallery of Denmark. The exhibition offers a sensuous walk through a rich variety of flower paintings spanning two centuries, but it also digs deeper to show that a flower is not simply a flower. The artists’ representations of flowers, fruit and plants are affected by history and the prevalent world view. A picture of a flower is a picture of its own time.
The National Gallery of Denmark, Sølvgade 48-50, 1307 Cph K; started March 22, ends Oct 20, open 10:00-17:00
Find out more at http://www.cphmuseums.com/.
