THE GOLDEN AGE IN DENMARK: HIGHLIGHTS

The first half of the 19th century in Denmark is a period known as its cultural "Golden Age," with a particular emphasis on the art of painting, but also encompassing distinctive developments in ballet, music, literature, and philosophy.

Paradoxically, it was a time of international political turmoil and economic depression at home, when Denmark experienced the repercussions of the Napoleonic Wars. Yet these hard times became fertile ground for a flowering of the arts. Since Denmark's absolutist government allowed little room for free political expression, the arts may have been one of the few avenues for the creative energies of a generation.

The Golden Age of Danish Painting

The careful observation of nature, kept in check by an underlying classical sense of form, is characteristic of the painting of the period between 1816 and 1848. Christoffer  Wilhelm Eckersberg's teaching was an important influence on the next generation's study of nature, in which landscape painting based on sketches done en plein air came to represent the inner as well as the outer world.

The most gifted of Eckersberg's students was Christen Købke (1810-1848), whose short career represents one of the high points in Danish art. Købke's portraits of his family circle and his close friends are candid and do not aim to flatter his sitters, much in the manner of Eckersberg. Above all he is remembered as a landscape painter, celebrating the quiet beauty of Copenhagen and its surroundings. His pictures of Frederiksborg Castle show an increasing interest in the rich associations of one of Denmark's great historical monuments. This tendency toward historical associationism, and the promotion of a sense of national identity in landscape painting are also found in the work of the painter Johan Thomas Lundbye (1818-1848), especially in the decade of the 1840s.

The most famous Danish artist of the period, the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), worked mainly in Rome, where he derived his inspiration from antiquity. Resident in Rome from 1797 to 1838, Thorvaldsen was the first Danish artist to achieve real celebrity in the history of European art with his classically inspired monuments, busts, and portrait statues. Thorvaldsen was given a hero's welcome when he returned to Denmark in 1838. He left his collection of works by himself and others to the city of Copenhagen, which had a museum (Thorvaldsens Museum, 1839-1848) built to house it.

Golden Age Architecture

Large areas of central Copenhagen are still graced with the Golden Age's monumental buildings and private houses, built in a simple classical style that was inspired by the international movement of neoclassicism.

Extensive redevelopment was necessary after a series of catastrophes laid waste to large areas of Copenhagen. Fire destroyed Christianborg Palace in 1794 and large areas of the city center in 1795, and in 1807, the British bombarded the city. One of the most important architects to take part in the huge work of reconstruction was C.F. Hansen (1756-1845), who practiced a classical style dominated by pure, simple forms and large, unbroken expanses. From 1800 on he was in charge of all major works in the rebuilding of Copenhagen. He designed the city hall, the courthouse on Nytorv, and Copenhagen's cathedral.

Golden Age Literature

Early in the 1800s Danish writers embraced the ideas of romanticism. Foremost among these writers was Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850), who brought new life to Danish poetry and used Nordic mythology and legend as a source of inspiration.

In the 1820s and 1830s Danish literature was influenced by liberal economic and political thinking in Europe. Among the principal writers of the time was Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), whose own journey from the lowest levels of society to affluent bourgeois circles in Copenhagen provided him with material for many of his works. In addition to his famous fairy tales, he wrote novels, travel accounts, poems, memoirs, and works for the theater.

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), who lived in Copenhagen all his life, saw himself as a religious author with the task of "presenting Christianity."  With a mixture of Christian idealism and psychological realism, he pointed to reality as the place where the life of the individual must be measured. In the 20th century his work became a source of inspiration for existential philosophy and theology.

Golden Age Ballet

August Bournonville (1805-1879) was the most significant person in Danish ballet history. Trained in Paris, from 1830 to 1877 he was, with short intervals, artistic director at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where he created a corps and some 50 ballets, a handful of which have been preserved in an unbroken tradition. With La Sylphide (1836) he introduced French ballet to Denmark. Later he turned away from European romanticism and created his own, more personal and consciously Danish works based on a harmonious, optimistic philosophy of life. He derived his aesthetic ideals from the poet Adam Oehlenschläger and the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen. His main works are Napoli (1842), Konservatoriet (1849, The Conservatory), and Et Folkesagn (1854, A Folk Tale).

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This backgrounder is drawn from Denmark (The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2002)