Identity and Place in 19th-Century Danish Art on view at the Getty

From May 23 to August 20, 2023, the Getty Museum hosts the exhibition “Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in 19th-Century Danish Art”

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Getty Museum · Image: Martinus Rørbye, “View from the Citadel Ramparts in Copenhagen by Moonlight” (1839)

The Getty Museum explains that “during an era marked by military defeat, financial collapse, and national disintegration, 19th-century artists in Denmark intensely studied themselves and their culture to portray a sense of belonging and displacement. Featuring drawings, oil sketches, and paintings from public and private collections in Copenhagen, New York, and Los Angeles, this exhibition is the first to elucidate how Danish artists depicted the extent and limits of their nation.”

“Beyond the Light: Identity and Place in Nineteenth-Century Danish Art” comes to the Getty Museum after its venue at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was on view from January 26 to April 16. The Met explained that the exhibition “explores the period formerly known as the Danish Golden Age, a name that belies the economic and political hardships the dwindling Danish Kingdom experienced in the nineteenth century. Denmark suffered through the Napoleonic Wars, which included the devastating bombardment of Copenhagen, bankruptcy, and mounting antagonism with Germany. Yet, this sociopolitical and economic tumult also gave rise to a vibrant cultural and philosophical environment for nineteenth-century Danish artists. (…) ‘Beyond the Light’ places the drawings, oil sketches, and paintings created by these artists firmly in this period, one that witnessed the transformation of a once-powerful Danish Kingdom into a small, somewhat marginalized country at the edge of Europe. Danish artists forged a close-knit community during this time, and the artworks they created explore notions of place, identity and belonging, and experiences of travel and their return home.”

The exhibition was organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Statens Museum for Kunst.