The Danish Collection
A small oil painting of a standing cow for their dining room. These were the humble beginnings of Henny and Wilhelm Hansen’s iconic collection of Danish art which now comprises one of the country’s foremost collections of works by Vilhelm Hammershøi, L. A. Ring and Danish art from around 1900.
In the early 1900s, there were rumours of a lavishly decorated dining room on Hambrosgade in Copenhagen, where the founders of Museum Ordrupgaard, Henny and Wilhelm, lived between 1910 and 1918. A perfect stranger even asked if he might come and see the famous room where Hammershøi’s quiet interiors and L. A. Ring’s lively landscapes adorned the walls.
After the couple’s move to Ordrupgaard in 1918, the collection had room to expand in the large, newly decorated spaces designed by Gotfred Tvede. Following Henny’s death in 1951, the house and the collection were opened to the public, and today visitors are free to step inside this splendid residence, bursting with exquisite art and craftwork. The collection bears witness to two bold and passionately committed collectors who supported contemporary artists, all of whom pushed the boundaries of what visual art could achieve. Here you will find works of international calibre by artists including Vilhelm Hammershøi, L. A. Ring, Bertha Wegmann, Johannes Larsen, C. V. Eckersberg, Christen Købke and Peter Hansen.