No, not the State located in the deep South of the United States, but the idiosyncratic, jaw dropping museum of modern art in the small town of Humblebaek near Copenhagen. The museum was created in 1958 and has expanded over time to its present size. The unusual name derives from the original owner, whose three wives were all called Louise!
The museum has a beautiful location overlooking the Oresund Sound and Sweden beyond. The building is considered a milestone of modern Danish architecture. That cool synthesis of materials, form and light that typifies what has become known as Scandi style is here married with a magical landscape setting to create a building of quite stunning beauty and serenity.
Its collection concentrates on art since the Second World War and has permanent exhibits from such masters as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Giacometti and Picasso. The real strength of the museum though is the large and extensive range of light-filled rooms available for temporary exhibitions. This allows for comprehensive retrospectives of major modern artists. When oldgreytravel visited there was a major retrospective of the challenging work of Marina Abramovic involving studio settings, video walls, sound installations and printed works. Few museums in the world could have accommodated such a demand for space and form.
The beautifully landscaped gardens around the museum contain a sculpture park with works by such esteemed artists as Max Ernst, Alexander Calder, Joan Miro and Henry Moore. The works are sensitively placed to juxtapose with the landscape and views within the garden and many of them are positioned so that they can be seen from within the museum itself.
However, in oldgreytravel’s opinion and that of many others it seems, the most significant work on view and one of the most immersive artworks I have ever encountered is the permanent installation of Yayoi Kusama’s “Gleaming Light of the Souls.” It was installed in 2008 and has become one of the museum’s most beloved works and the iconic centrepiece of its collection. It consists of a room, a perfect cube 4m by 4m, with mirrored walls and ceiling. The floor is a water mirror and the visitor (it should be experienced alone) stands in the middle of the water on a platform. One hundred lamps hang from thin wires and change colour slowly and rhythmically. The effect is one of being in the eternity of space, an endless darkness with ever repeating light sources far away into the distance. The sense of isolation and the vastness of space is over-whelming, probably the nearest any of us will come to space travel in our lives. Oldgreytravel and his family (even the children) found this one of the most moving experiences that any artwork has ever had on us. It is worth the trip to Denmark alone, just to see this installation.
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is located in Humlebaek, 30k north of Copenhagen. It is open every day, except Monday and free to children under 18. It is a 15 minute walk from the railway station with direct trains to Copenhagen. There is extensive car parking on sit
