Research projects
At SMK we study art in all its many aspects – we explore art history, examine the artists’ techniques, and analyse works of art. We also study the museum’s role as an institution.
The projects can differ greatly in nature. Sometimes research and conservation coincide, as was the case in the project Illuminated – Tracing Bosch and Bruegel, which saw an international team of scientists examining four paintings depicting the same subject matter, using technical analysis in order to discover the history behind the paintings. At other times the research focuses on a particular artist or period, or perhaps it homes in on subjects such as citizenship, learning, and the experience economy.
All research projects take their point of departure in the museum’s collections and in its activities as an institution.
Overview of research projects
Conservator Troels Filtenborg working on an artwork.
An early Dutch Madonna of the Rosary
In connection with the new presentation of the museum’s collection of European Art 1300-1800 in 2012 we discovered an early Dutch panel painting from the latter half of the 15th century that had never been properly examined or studied before. The panel has hitherto been attributed to Albrecht Bouts (before 1476-1549). That attribution will now be tested and possibly revised.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Persons responsible: Eva de la Fuente Pedersen, Troels Filtenborg, Peter van den Brink (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Aachen), and Ole Faurskov Nielsen (Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen)
Tizian, Portrait of Giovanni Bellini, c. 1512.
Titian’s portraits
The project examines two of the museum’s Titians: the early Portrait of Giovanni Bellini (circa 1512) and the late Portrait of Willibald Imhoff the Elder (1560s). The project also studies five paintings from the museum collections that each has some relationship with Titian – as attributions, copies after his work, or otherwise – and seeks to determine their true attribution.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Persons responsible: Matthias Wivel, Troels Filtenborg, and Claudia Daffara (C.N.R. – Instituto Nazionale di Ottica Applicata Art Diagnotic Group).
Detail of the museum’s painting Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple, after 1569.
Illuminated – Tracing Bosch & Bruegel
Together with the Kadriorg Art Museum in Tallinn, Glasgow Museums, and Glasgow University the SMK has embarked on an exciting research and exhibition project examining four 16th century paintings showing the same motif: Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Persons responsible:Jørgen Wadum, Anne Haack Christensen, Frederik Henrik Knap Frederiksen, Pernille Jensen, Louise Springborg, Berit Anne Larsen, and art pilots from the ULK Art Labs
More about Illuminated – tracing Bosch & Bruegel
Detail of Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Rabbit Hunt. Bruegel’s drawings are studied as part of the project.
Testing a mathematical method for identifying forged art on paper
This collaborative project involves Christian Robert Jakobsen, a PhD fellow with the Department of Mathematics, Aarhus University, who has developed a mathematical method supposedly capable of identifying forgeries, and Niels Borring from the SMK.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1700 and Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Persons responsible: Niels Borring and Christian Robert Jakobsen
Detail of a Claes Jansz Visscher drawing executed using iron gall ink.
Developing restoration methods for works executed in iron gall ink
One of the main conservation issues facing the museum is the fact that many of its finest drawings were drawn using a type of ink that is self-destructive: iron gall ink. The project examines how works drawn in iron gall ink may be restored.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800 and Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Persons responsible: Niels Borring, Veronique Rouchon (Centre de Recherches sur la Conversation des Documents Graphiques), and Birgit Hansen (The Royal Danish Library).
One of the works from the flower album the Gottorfer Codex.
The Gottorfer Codex
Over the course of four years the museum’s conservators have restored the florilegium known as the Gottorfer Codex. Their work has yielded up new information about 17th century flower paintings and drawings and forms the basis of the exhibition Flowers and World Views. The exhibition focuses on flowers as a motif in art.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Persons responsible: Anja Scocozza, Niels Borring, Christian Balleby Jensen, Eva de la Fuente Pedersen and Hanne Kolind Poulsen
More about the Gottorfer Codex
Jacob Jordaens’ The Tribute Money. Peter Finding the Coin in the Mouth of the Fish, AKA The Ferry Boat to Antwerp undergoing restoration.
Jacob Jordaens
From September 2007 to October 2008 the painting The Tribute Money. Peter Finding the Coin in the Mouth of the Fish, AKA The Ferry Boat to Antwerp underwent restoration. Concurrently with the conservators’ work the SMK also completed an art historical research project about the Ferry Boat and the collection of works by Jacob Jordaens.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Persons responsible:Eva de la Fuente Pedersen, Anne Haack Christensen and Jørgen Wadum
More about the study of Jacob Jordaens
Venetian Renaissance drawings
The objective of this project is to gain greater knowledge about Venetian drawing during the Renaissance era.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Person(s) responsible: Matthias Wivel
Udsnit af et vandmærke med Christian den 7’s monogram (1749-1808).
Watermarks
The SMK is home to large collection of masterpieces created on paper with watermarks, while the School of Conservation in Copenhagen houses a large collection of papers with watermarks from Danish paper mills. This collaborative project aims at establishing a database of watermarks in art on paper; the database will be used for studies of paper and art history in Denmark and internationally.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800 and Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900.
Persons responsible: Jørgen Wadum, Anja Scocozza, Chris Fischer and Ingelise Nielsen (School of Conservation)
Jørgen Sonne, Rural scene, 1848.
Danish art and national identity
The study examines how e.g. Danish Golden Age art and the art of the National Romanticism movement has shaped and supported notions about national identity.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Person responsible: Henrik Holm
Christen Købke, A View from Dosseringen near the Sortedam Lake Looking Towards Nørrebro, 1838
Relining methods used on paintings from the Danish Golden Age
The project focuses on the museum’s collection of Golden Age paintings from the period 1813-1848; it also constitutes Cecil Krarup Andersen’s PhD dissertation.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Person responsible: Cecil Krarup Andersen
Read about relining methods
An Abildgaard painting undergoing restoration.
Nicolai Abildgaard
Nicolai Abildgaard’s technique and materials were studied in connection with the restoration of three of his paintings.
Field of study: European Art 1300-1800
Person responsible: Troels Filtenborg
Read about the study of Nicolai Abildgaard
Nicolai Abildgaard, The Wounded Philoctetes, 1775.
Nicolai Abildgaard as an art collector
Abildgaard owned a large collection of paintings, drawings, and prints by older masters. This project studies Abildgaard’s activities as an art collector.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Persons responsible:Chris Fischer and Jesper Svenningsen (The Hirschsprung Collection)
Nicolai Abildgaard, Richard III haunted by the ghosts of his victims in his tent at Bosworth. Episode from Shakespeare, c. 1785.
A study of Nicolai Abildgaard’s technique and materials
A number of paintings from various periods of Abildgaard’s oeuvre have been subjected to technical studies. The objective is to shed light upon the artist’s technique and possible development and to place this within the framework of contemporary academic practices in Denmark, France, and Italy.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Person responsible: Troels Filtenborg
Detail of Carl Bloch’s From a Roman Osteria from 1866
Carl Bloch
The objective of this study is to demonstrate how Carl Bloch’s genre paintings act as a locus for personal experiences and ideas, using the human body, sexuality, and death as leitmotifs.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Person responsible: Peter Nørgaard Larsen
Peter Nørgaard Larsen in his office.
L.A. Ring – Spring
In connection with an exhibition at the Hirschsprung Collection the SMK’s curator Peter Nørgaard Larsen has analysed L.A. Ring’s painting Spring from 1895, one of the paintings featured in the exhibition.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Person responsible: Peter Nørgaard Larsen
Read about L.A. Ring’s painting (external link)
Detail of P.S. Krøyer’s painting From Burmeister and Wain’s Iron Foundry from 1885.
The Modern Breakthrough – Nordic Counter-Images to Modernity
The objective of this project is to study the anti-modern utterances of the modern breakthrough, or: Nordic counter-images to modernity. The project takes its point of departure in Danish artists, but these will hopefully serve as typical examples as the study also targets similar pan-Nordic endeavours at coming to terms with the challenges presented by modern life.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Persons responsible:Peter Nørgaard Larsen and David Jackson (professor with Leeds University)
The Brewer, the Buddha, and the Baroque
The project studies the brewer and philanthropist J.C. Jacobsen as a collector of art and artefacts other than those hailing from antiquity; i.e. it looks at his collection activities prior to his choice to focus on antiquity. The project compares Jacobsen to other collectors from the period, and studies who offered him advice and the tastes that served as the basis for his purchases.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900
Persons responsible: Chris Fischer, Mette Moltesen (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek) and Tina Thunøe (Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek)
Jens Juel, Study of a Right Hand, 1790-91.
[details]
The exhibition [details] is founded in a broad historical study of the function served by details in graphic media. The study takes its point of departure in the work of Daniel Arasse and Jean-Pierre Mourey.
Field of study: Danish and Nordic Art 1750-1900 and Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Thomas Lederballe
Read about the exhibition [details]
© Succession H. Matisse/BilledKunst Copydan 2012. Henri Matisse, Le Luxe II, 1907
Henri Matisse
The exhibition Matisse – Doubles and Variations homed in on a prominent and recurring feature of the artist’s work: Matisse would frequently repeat the same subject matter in two or more different versions. The exhibition’s thesis is that this is a fundamental feature of Matisse’s art and may offer a crucial contribution to our understanding of Matisse’s main endeavour throughout the majority of his life’s work.
The exhibition was created in co-operation with the Centre Pompidou and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Persons responsible:: Dorthe Aagesen, Cécile Debray (Musée National d'Art Moderne) og Rebecca Rabinow (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Read about the exhibition Matisse – Doubles and Variations
© Succession H. Matisse/BilledKunst Copydan 2012. Henri Matisse, Zulma, 1950.
Matisse’s paper cut-outs Zulma
The method of mounting used for Zulma is studied in co-operation with Foundation Beyeler.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Persons responsible: Niels Borring and Stephan Lohrengel
More about the work
© André Derain, Woman in a chemise, 1906.
The SMK's collection of French 20th century painting and sculpture
The objective of this project is to create an overview of the French collection in its entirety. The project explores how the collection was created, why it contains the works it does, and how it is best presented to the public.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Dorthe Aagesen
© Palle Nielsen, The Tempest, 1963.
The Portrayers of Humanity in Danish graphic art after 1945
This PhD project studies the link between the art created by the so-called “Portrayers of Humanity” and the Cold War. Here, the “Portrayers of Humanity” are defined as the artists who, during the period 1956 to 1959, took part in three “manifesto exhibitions” entitled “Humanity”. These artists are: Palle Nielsen, Svend Wiig Hansen, Dan Sterup-Hansen, Reidar Magnus, Henry Heerup, and Erling Frederiksen.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Liza Burmeister Kaaring
Asger Jorn – retrospective
An in-depth study of Asger Jorn’s work. The study will form the foundations of a retrospective about the artist to be shown in 2014 on the occasion of the centenary of his birth.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Persons responsible: Helle Anita Brøns and Dorthe Aagesen
See a list of future exhibitions at SMK
Asger Jorn and the Avant-Garde. Gender and the Role of the Artist
The project examines how Asger Jorn mixed and merged a range of artist’s roles, presenting himself in many guises: as a political modernist, a “conservative” avant-garde artist, and as an activist organiser of groups who always left the groups as soon as they had become established. The project will also study the gender-related discussion to be found in his paintings, his theoretical writings, and his participation in European avant-garde groups.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Helle Anita Brøns
History of the Nordic Avant-Garde
The SMK will be part of an inter-disciplinary editorial group preparing a four-volume work (in English) about the history of avant-garde art in the Nordic countries.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Persons responsible: Birgitte Anderberg, Tania Ørum (University of Copenhagen), Marianne Ping Huang (University of Copenhagen), Henrik Kaare Nielsen (Aarhus University), Benedikt Hjartarson (University of Iceland), Andreas Engstrøm (Stockholm University), Jesper Olsson (Stockholm University) and Audun Lindholm (Oslo University)
The Cultural History of the Nordic Avant-Garde
The SMK will be part of an inter-disciplinary editorial group preparing a four-volume work (in English) about the history of avant-garde art in the Nordic countries.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Persons responsible: Dorthe Aagesen, Tania Ørum (University of Copenhagen), Marianne Ping Huang (University of Copenhagen), Torben Jelsbak (University of Copenhagen), Per Stoungbjerg (Aarhus University), Rikard Schönström (Lund University), Benedikt Hjartarson (University of Iceland), and Hubert van den Berg (Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan).
© Lene Adler Petersen (1944-) and Bjørn Nørgaard (1947-), From the series The Female Christ, 1969.
The 1960s and 70s – Art in an Expanded Field
The art scene of the 1960s and 1970s was in many ways a watershed within the realm of art. This project studies a range of historical issues from the 1960s and 70s and presents a methodical and theoretical dimension that considers the challenges presented to the museum institutions by the historic shift of the period. The project reflects the period’s importance within art history and also offers a point of entry to the realm of contemporary art.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Birgitte Anderberg
© Per Kirkeby (1938-), A Romantic Picture, 1965.
Art made from Plastic
Working in collaboration with the School of Conservation the SMK studies how art made from plastic can be conserved for posterity. The study is part of the PRIMI project.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Louise Cone
Danh Vo: We the People (Detail).
Danh Vo: We the People (detail)
For this exhibition Danh Vo had a full-scale copy of the Statue of Liberty made in a metal workshop in Shanghai. However, the statue was not welded together to reach its full height of 45m; rather, it remains split into approximately 400 parts that have been scattered across the world.
Field of study: Danish and International Art after 1900
Person responsible: Marianne Torp
More about the exhibition We the People (detail)
In the collection of Danish and International Art after 1900 visitors can take an iPad with them as they explore the collections.
Museums and citizenship
The modern-day museum was created as a democratic place of edification and is in some respects similar to the school as an institution. But what does it mean to be a democratic institution of education within a present-day context?
Field of study: The museum as institution
Person responsible: Nana Bernhardt
Adults in the collections. SMK-Foto: Frida Gregersen.
Museum Experiences: A study of how adult visitors and their responses to the collections at the SMK
Art education and presentation is a relatively new discipline in Denmark, and no research-based study of the field exists as yet. This PhD dissertation explores the intentions behind art education and presentation activities and how it can yield the desired results.
Field of study: The museum as institution
Person responsible: Mette Houlberg Rung
