Scan Magazine | Museum of the Month | Denmark
Fertility (1891): Willumsen shocked the established art scene with this purposefully primitive etching of his heavily pregnant wife next to a plea that ‘new art must have a new language’. Photo: Anders Sune Berg
Museum of the Month, Denmark
An artist ahead of his time Jens Ferdinand Willumsen created a huge collection of expressionist paintings, sculptures and other artworks in his 70-year-long career, spanning the late 1880s to the 1950s. He was exhibited throughout Denmark, was co-founder of Denmark’s oldest association of artists, and caused a stir on the Scandinavian art scene. And yet, it was only after a drawn-out, hard-fought struggle that the municipality of Frederikssund accepted the donation of his life’s works in exchange for a museum in his honour. Today, the J. F. Willumsen Museum attracts visitors from across the world. By Louise Older Steffensen
Throughout his life, Willumsen marched to the beat of his own drum. Although he was an important and well-known artist, he struggled with acceptance in Denmark and felt misunderstood throughout his career; a feeling hardly made better by his long struggle to be recognised with a 118 | Issue 122 | March 2019
museum. Finally, in 1957, his wish was granted, and the construction of the J. F. Willumsen Museum was given the green light in Frederikssund, 40 minutes by train from Copenhagen. The artist passed away a year later but his extensive art collection, featuring 7,000 ob-
Jacob, Lærke Posselt (2015). Photo: Lærke Posselt