Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
Situated 30 minute drive, or a 45 minute train ride away from Copenhagen, Louisiana Museum of Modern art is known for its striking, balanced interplay of art, architecture and nature. Big windows (rather impractical for a modern art gallery) panoramic views, and a large garden full of sculptures from only the best artists, it really is like no other. Unlike many of modern art galleries of this caliber, with a collection of this size, everything in this museum of presented with care, attention, and is made to be accessible and welcoming to the visitors. It is so far removed from grandiose modern art gallery model with high ceilings and white walls, in truly Scandinavian fashion, that it almost feels cozy.
The balance of art, nature, and architecture is so highly regarded in the creative community that Jean Nouvel, a French Pritzker Architecture Prize winning architect even dedicated a whole entire book, “Louisiana Manifesto” to it. In the video below, published by the Louisiana Channel on Youtube, you can hear him speaking about it.
“At Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, everything looks like it belongs to each-other”
The way works are hung in Louisiana is easy, or at least it seems that way. Similarly to the landscape, views and sculptures in the infamous sculpture park, everything looks like it is where it should be. Of course, just like in any museum, the space is switched up and new art is hung. In my opinion, the most beautiful part of the Museum is definitely the Giacometti Gallery.
Giacometti, as a sculptor, deserves a whole new post on here, so in this case, the focus would be on how Giacometti has found his home at Louisiana. Marina Abramovich, currently one of the most influential and important living artists talks about Giacometti on Louisiana Channel.
The space around Giacometti’s sculptures is empty, but he has the ability to make this empty space quite obvious and almost visible to the viewer. His sculptures, ranging from tiny to enormous, have a tendency to really hold the space that they are placed in. I have been fortunate to see multiple Giacometti exhibits over the past few years, including UK’s first retrospective of Alberto Giacometti at Tate Modern in London. It is clear, however, that the sculptures have really made a home for themselves at Louisiana, and although it may not seem like glass windows with the willows and nature in the background is the most suitable environment to Giacometti’s shadow sculptures.
