NEW BLOOD

The museum's new acquisitions 25 January - 14 December 2025

The exhibition NEW BLOOD presents the most recent additions to the museum's collection. More than 50 works have been acquired/donated over the past five years, making a significant addition to our small museum. Some works have been exhibited previously in various exhibitions, while others have been waiting to see the light of day. Now the time has finally come, and we are excited to present works by artists such as Alexander Tovborg (b. 1983), Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen (1912-1999), Cathrine Raben Davidsen (b. 1972) and many more.

The museum's collection

The Museum of Religious Art is a relatively new museum that has built its art collection from scratch. The first works were by Bodil Kaalund (1930-2016), whose hundreds of works still form the core of the collection. In addition, the museum has a collection of various series of Bible illustrations and a large collection of Greenlandic ethnographics. Most acquisitions are financed by foundations, but some works are also donated by artists, heirs or other owners. Each year, the museum turns down several works, as the content must be of high artistic quality and fit in with the museum's purpose.

What is religious art?
The museum often gets the question: ‘What is religious art?’ The answer is not simple. Is it a religious motif, the artist's own beliefs, the title of the work, the materials, the viewer's experience or the museum setting that defines the work as religious? Perhaps it is a combination of several elements. The museum works broadly with the field and collects and exhibits art that can open up dialogue and reflection on life's big questions.

Trends and tendencies
The exhibition has a particular focus on contemporary art, amongst others several artists explore and reinterprets the role of women in the Bible. Drawing inspiration from both Norse and Greek mythology, women are empowered by combining the power of goddesses with biblical female figures such as Mary and Eve. Reaching back to past idioms, legends and myths is nothing new, as can be seen in the works of Sven Havsteen-Mikkelsen and Niels Helledie (1927-2022) in the exhibition. The Museum of Religious Art also has a special focus on Greenlandic art, and here too, new works have been added, including works by Martin Brandt Hansen (b. 1990), which draw on references to religion and myths of the past.

A special thanks to the foundations which have supported the purchases:
Augustinus Fonden, 15. Juni Fonden and Ny Carlsberg Foundation