It was a cloudier day than of late and showers were promised for later but still, it was a pleasant enough day. Our plan for the day was to pop across the sound to the adjacent Danish shore, to the small harbour of Humlebæk which is the nearest one to the world famous museum of modern art called Louisiana. I say world famous but our two visitors, both of whom have arts degrees, had never heard of it and I was hoping that they would like it. We were off by 09:00 and soon after 10:00, we were being guided alongside in a convenient slot by the friendly harbourmaster. This is our first time here and I must say we like it, he obviously cares for his customers and tries to make life as comfortable as possible – for instance there are innumerable benches and seats around and at least 4 Webber barbecues for clients’ use.

After coffee we walked the 5 minutes it took to get to the museum, to join a queue to get in. Just then it started to rain but fortunately Owen & Geraldine had coats and I was offered shelter under Julie’s umbrella so no harm done. One of the most impressive things about Louisiana is the building itself. It is vast, with multiple intertwined rooms and it is easy to get confused there. Now with modern art, I find, there is a great deal that does absolutely nothing for me, other than perhaps, annoy in a ‘they call that art?’ sort of way. However, the range and variety was huge and some items were fabulous. Julie and I have been here before, with Rosemary & Elaine on July 18^th 2010 and here is what I said then :-

‘Louisiana was the brainchild of one Knud W Jensen, a wealthy Dane whose family prospered from cheese wholesaling. He was the director from its inception until 1995 when he retired and died in 2000. The museum bears the name of a 19th-century country house on the site. The house was named for its first owner's three wives, all of whom were named Louise. The house is the centrepoint of the museum but and I quote ‘the architectural design of Louisiana is considered a unique achievement, rooted in low-key modernism of the 1950’s. The appearance of the museum is that of a subdued, horizontal building complex discreetly nestling into the landscape’. In plain English, many of the galleries are effectively underground and the mature trees in the grounds, coupled with the splendid views of the Øresund and over to Sweden, make this a very special place. In addition, sited to make the most of their location, are works of sculpture by Moore, Calder, Ernst, Arp, Sekine and Dubuffet (I quoted there, lest you think I’ve had a fundamental character change!). Whilst I’m cribbing, the museum’s art collection is amongst the largest in Scandinavia and concentrates on the period after 1945. It includes major works by Picasso, Giacometti, Klein, Warhol, Rauschenberg, Bourgeois, Guston, Baselitz, Kiefer and Kirkeby.’

Here is a URL describing Louisiana :-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Museum_of_Modern_Art

This time we missed some of the permanent exhibits because we spent so long looking at the work of one Pipilotti Rist. She has been active in the art world for over 30 years and is described as a ‘visual artist’. There was a huge area of Louisiana dedicated to her work and although most of it was, well, weird it certainly fascinated and some of it was beautiful. Here are two URL’s, one about her and one about the Louisiana exhibition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipilotti_Rist

Of course we did see many other exhibits, I particularly like the work of Giacometti and outside in the garden there were many interesting sculptures but the one I think all of us liked the most was a collection of spherical polished stones that presumably represent planets, they were lovely. I have included a photo but a better one can be seen in this URL

https://www.louisiana.dk/en/sculpture-park

(if it’s not there, scroll to the right)

We had Danish open sandwiches for lunch – huge things and very pricey but satisfying (Owen & Geraldine had roast pork, Julie smoked salmon and I had a veggie burger) and remained in the grounds until around 16:00 when we returned to the boat, now in bright sunshine – it had only been a brief shower.

Dinner consisted of chicken done in the oven (we chose not to barbecue) and we were in bed by 10:00, or at least everyone else was. I met a charming German couple who were on their way back to the Schlei after a cruise in Denmark & Sweden. Their yacht dated from the 1970’s and he inherited from his father so she is probably quite small and very narrow – that might explain why they were looking so wistfully at big fat Celtic Warrior!