The golden era

Large parts of today’s Schleswig-Holstein belonged to the Kingdom of Denmark for several centuries up until 1864. The Danish core country and its provinces were strongly culturally influenced by Copenhagen as their centre, primarily by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1784. Cultural exchange manifests itself in our exhibition with important works from Danish and Schleswig-Holstein artists in the 19th century and extends far beyond the bounds of Schleswig-Holstein.

The first part of the chronologically structured show is dedicated to the core period of the golden era – the first half of the 19th century. Nordic art during this period was fully influenced by the cultural centre of Copenhagen and the outstanding figure of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg. Artists in today’s Schleswig-Holstein studied there naturally.

After the rise (southern perspective) or the revolt (Danish view of the political upheaval), Danish and Schleswig-Holstein artists went their separate ways. In the second part, visitors see works from the second half of the 19th century. The now Prussian artists such as Hans Olde or Christian Rohlfs studied henceforth increasingly at German academies such as Munich, Düsseldorf and Weimar. The special turn during this period is the reception of French art (realism, impressionism and post-impressionism) This cultural exchange resulted in the modernisation of German art.