Caspar David Friedrich Never Made It to Sweden

Since it opened last year, Kunsthal Charlottenborg has been exploring its identity in the international art world, along its significance as a regional space. The last exhibition this year continues on the theme of identity, but this time from a Swedish perspective, comparing Swedish contemporary art to Danish art.

This first manifestation of Swedish contemporary art in Copenhagen focuses on the German painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), and the exhibition has a story to tell.

What in fact is the relationship between Caspar David Friedrich's work with that in Denmark and Sweden? Friedrich lived and worked in Pomerania, at that time a Swedish colony, today divided between Germany and Poland. He spoke Swedish, corresponded with the renowned Swedish poet Stagnelius and longed to visit Sweden. But he never managed to venture past Copenhagen where he studied for four years (1794-98) at The Royal Academy of Fine Art, located on the same grounds where you will find Kunsthal Charlottenborg today.

Any influence he might have had on Danish contemporary art is hard to find but in Sweden his imprint is apparent as a direct influence as well as a romantic perspective.

The exhibition focuses mainly on the medium of painting (Ola Billgren, Håkan Rehnberg, Leonard Forslund) but you also find a multitude of other media, such as sculpture (Håkan Rehnberg, Truls Melin) photography (Denise Grünstein), video (Lennart Alves), drawing (Ann Böttcher), as well as mixed media (Ann Böttcher, Jan Håfström, Lars Nilsson).

Curator: Bo Nilsson, Director Kunsthal Charlottenborg

Co-ordinator: Maria LaBelle

Read more about the artists: lennart alves, ola billgren, ann böttcher, leonard forslund, denise grünstein, jan håfström, truls melin, lars nilsson og håkan rehnberg.

Caspar David Friedrich Never Made It to Sweden... He Stayed in Denmark
Kurator: Bo Nilsson

Künstler: Lennart Alves, Ola Billgren, Ann Böttcher, Leonard Forslund, Denise Grünstein, Jan Hafström, Truls Melin, Lars Nilsson, Hakan Rehnberg