Situated an hour’s drive from Copenhagen, Louisiana Museum is the most visited modern and contemporary art museum in Scandinavia. From the city center, the drive north is along some of the most beautiful oceanscape I’ve seen. It’s also accessible by train and bus, but the drive is worth the excursion alone.
Arrive early because the parking lot fills up fast and lines form at the 11:00 opening time. We waited only 5 minutes to get in, and then started right away with the two story gift shop. There are convenient spaces on the lower level for coat and locker storage, as well as accessible bathrooms. The gift shop had housewares, books, games, and really cool offerings for everyone.
Louisiana, like all large museums, has a complex multi-level layout. We started in the South Wing to see the current exhibition “Ocean”. This journey took us through multiple rooms with artwork, video installations, and science displays to talk about how oceans tell tales of joy and fear, as well as educate us, sustain us, kill us, and inspire us. It was beautifully curated and just enough for the senses.
I was absolutely stunned to find this amazing piece by Cecily Brown called “Where, When, How Often, and With Whom (2017)”. It took up an entire wall. It tells the story of women’s autonomy, and it is a shocking, complex storyboard about a humanitarian crisis and our societal reactions- all in a complex Matisse-style dreamscape.
There were 6 total exhibitions going on, large and small. Modern and contemporary artworks were wonderful. I learned about many Danish artists I wasn’t familiar with, and I saw works by global artists of fame. They have an enormous collection of Giacometti statues. Louisiana was bright and cheerful with colorful works everywhere. The museum staff want art to be a part of society’s everyday conversation, and this museum is the perfect setting for that.
The museum could entertain you all day, with plenty of places to sit and a large cafe serving coffee, food, and drinks. The weather was not pleasant during our visit, so we stayed inside enjoying expansive views of the Danish coast from every hallway and the cafe. But if you adventure outside, there is an entire sculpture museum with walking paths, benches, and seating areas.
Children can play in the play yard outside or work in the children’s workshop inside. Parents often drop their kids off here for an hour for supervised arts activities so they can tour the museum alone for a while.
The Louisiana Museum is closed on Mondays and tickets are about $20. You can plan your visit here. This is absolutely worth the stop during your visit to Copenhagen.
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Bethany Miller is a writer, art advisor, and global traveler. She works on projects relating to storytelling and demystifying the art world. She writes a newsletter called Art Advisor and runs an arts education platform called Boundaryless Art. Bethany has a PhD with focus on business psychology and a Masters of Art and Culture Management. Born in the United States, she currently travels internationally full time with her husband.