French Art at Ordrupgaard

Ordrupgaard is home to one of Northern Europe’s finest collections of French Impressionist art from the nineteenth century. Originally built by the businessman and art collector Wilhelm Hansen over the course of just two years, from 1916 to 1918, the collection got a new home in 2021. It now resides in the museum’s new wing, created by Norwegian design studio Snøhetta.

The book presents ninety works of art, including major pieces by renowned French Impressionists such as Manet, Degas, Monet, Renoir and Gauguin. The works exemplify the development of a rebellious vein of art that rejected established art authorities and evolved into a new type of modernist painting infused by a sketch-like feel, light and pure colour.

Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark is the director of the art museum Ordrupgaard, home to outstanding collections of French and Danish nineteenth-century art. Having worked extensively with French Impressionism and Danish art from this period, Fonsmark is a particular expert on Paul Gauguin’s early works. Among other things she has been responsible for international exhibitions on Vilhelm Hammershøi at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.