Cities and surrealism

... a visit to Aarhus, Denmark

Dec 06, 2022

Quote of the week

Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision.

Hello,

Technicalities sometimes take over and that happened with this newsletter, that should have been published last Friday. Somewhat late, here it is.

This week I took a few days off and went to Aarhus in Denmark with my friend Lena. The main idea was to visit the Moesgaard Museum which has a new exhibition Out of Chaos, a story of the time between the Roman Empire and the Viking Era. Last time we were there we visited the permanent Evolution exhibition, and the temporary exhibition; Vikings going East. Great museum, well worth a visit. A modern cement building, ‘thrown out’ in a hilly, green landscape. It is beautiful and melt into nature.

I found a rather inexpensive hotel called Cabinn. It has small rooms according to the slogan “All You Need To Sleep”, but it is modern and fresh. The hotel is situated in the centre of Aarhus, giving us walking distance to everything. It was wonderful to stroll around the old pebble stoned streets and old houses. A canal runs through it all to give it a mysterious air of being in the centre of travelling.

First day we started the morning with DOKK1 a huge, modern, glass building by the harbour. It houses a wonderful library and areas for talks, working and reading. Or just to grab a chair by the window and enjoy the harbour view. There are also a few administrative offices.

We continued down town, which turned out to be up (it is rather hilly here) for a visit to ARos, the modern art museum. The building is an architectural feat with a round circle on top of the house, where you can walk around and enjoy a 360 degree view of the city. In the middle of the building is a big opening and around them the various exhibitions hall are placed. There are eight floors. Going, up or down, you can use a stairway circling around the opening, from top floor to bottom. In the middle, hanging in the air, was an amazing textil statue of Ran hanging.

I am not a fan of modern art, but found the temporary exhibition on works by Francisca Clausen very interesting. Neither Lena, nor me, had every heard of her. What a mistake.

Franciska Clausen (1899 – 1986) was a Danish painter, part of the abstract art movement of the early twentieth century. She studied at art schools in Germany, Denmark and France. In Paris she studied under Fernand Léger, her greatest inspiration. She spent several years in Paris being influenced by several artists, like László Moholy-Nagy's Constructionist collages and Fernand Léger’s ‘machine style art’. She continously developed her art and mastered Neue Sachlichkeit, Constructivism, Cubism, Neo-plasticism, Surrealism and Purism. Back in Denmark she did a lot of portrait painting, probably to be able to support herself. From what can be seen in the exhibition, she mastered also the genres. Her work is absolutely fantastic, and it was a bonus to get to know this artist through her works.

Next day we visited the Botanical Garden and its excotic plants were interesting. Since it was grey outside it was nice to step into the tropical greenery. I then took a turn at the Viking museum, but considering the many museums I have visited it was nothing for me. If you don’t know so much about the Vikings you get a good overview.

Eating was very good in Aarhus. Den Rustike the first evening with a menu of salmon and fish, and a very good glass of Viognier. The second evening we found Rømer, a nice modern restaurant by the canal, which turned out to be fantastic. You choose 2-4 different small items, very tasty and good. After that meal we went to the Cathedral for Händel’s Messias. A musical treat in the winter darkness. The last evening we had a seafood dinner at Mefisto, situated in one of the many small streets in the old city. A charming, atmosphere of times gone by.

All nice things come to an end, but we had one more treat, the Moesgaarden museum and its latest exhibition Out of Chaos. This era is called the Migration Period. Mostly we hear about the Goths and the Hun invasion and not much more. The exhibition managed to bridge over this time and make it more understandable. Amazing gold finds and other artefacts were displayed. As usual at museums today, the mere fact findings are mixed with videos and films giving more detailed knowledge.

That was it for this week. Already late with the newsletter so time to publish.

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