Spring exhibitions in Copenhagen

This spring, travelers in Copenhagen can experience Michelangelo’s most comprehensive exhibition in 150 years at the National Gallery of Denmark, explore installations that pay tribute to one of the most famous – and controversial – Danish film directors, Lars von Trier, at Nikolaj Kunsthal, and discover the creative future of children’s hospital design at Designmuseum Denmark. 

Discover these and other current and upcoming spring exhibitions in the list below.

The exhibition, Michelangelo Imperfect, is the most comprehensive presentation of Michelangelo’s sculptural work the world has seen in 150 years. The exhibition will feature a bronze replica of the iconic David sculpture, usually standing by the waterfront of Copenhagen Harbour, along with a total of thirty-six reproductions of Michelangelo's sculptures. 

These will be displayed alongside original sculpture models, drawings, and documents. This includes both casts from The Royal Cast Collection and new sculptures created using 3D technology, offering a unique and extensive view of Michelangelo’s artistic legacy.

In the exhibition Iconoclasm – Art as a Battleground, Glyptoteket delves into the tumultuous relationship between humans and art, exploring what drives us to destroy it. Drawing on antiquity, the exhibition addresses questions such as why activists target famous artworks to highlight the climate crisis and why statues are toppled when power shifts.

For millennia, humans have not only erected statues but also toppled, altered, and destroyed them. While monuments are often made from durable materials like marble and bronze, the ideologies, individuals, and events they celebrate are rarely as enduring. Iconoclasm is not just a phenomenon of the ancient world – art remains a battleground where power dynamics and identities are contested. 

ALL WALKS OF LIFE is the largest solo exhibition to date by the renowned contemporary artist Frederik Næblerød. The exhibition is an energetic, colorful, and playful art experience that reflects the artist’s pulsating creativity, ensuring that the exhibition that begins will not be the same as the one that ends. His works, ranging from painting, ceramics, bronze, and drawing to large-scale installations, create a unique artistic universe that is spontaneous, absurd, and humorous.

Næblerød has established himself as one of the most exciting new voices on the Danish art scene. He has garnered attention with his improvisational methods, collaborations with other artists, and surprising exhibition formats both inside and outside the museum walls. 

Breaking Darkness is a tribute to the groundbreaking and controversial Danish film director Lars von Trier and his significant artistic contributions, presenting his distinctive universe in a new light. It offers both hardcore fans and curious newcomers the chance to engage with his works in an alternative context.

The exhibition unfolds Lars von Trier’s universe through five site-specific installations spread across all of the museums galleries, including the iconic Nikolaj Tower. By integrating the historic church spaces, with stylistic nods to Gothic and Baroque architecture, von Trier’s works are placed in a distinctive artistic context that provides a physical and tactile encounter with the filmmaker’s aesthetics and imagery. 

At the exhibition HEARTSPACE: DESIGNING A HEALING HOSPITAL, the question is posed: What does it mean for the patient and the family how we design and furnish our hospitals? The exhibition provides a unique insight into the children’s hospital of the future, Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital – Rigshospitalet for Children, Teens and Expecting Families – and delves into the history of the visionary hospital of the past.

At the exhibition the audience can gain insight into the playful architecture of the new hospital, which will open in 2027 in Copenhagen, and explore how the hospital, with life and play at its center, sets new standards for the treatment of seriously ill children.  

With children as the motif and theme, the exhibition Just Kids explores how artists throughout history have viewed children and what their perspectives say about the times we live in.

In a time where children are more prominent than ever and are a central part of the societal debate, Just Kids offers an experimental, generational look at children in contemporary art. The exhibition also shows how childlike qualities and creativity are closely linked to being an artist. Featured artists include Ursula Reuter Christiansen, Paul McCarthy, and Pope.L, whose works provide diverse and thought-provoking insights into the theme

With Are you a living thing that is dying, or a dying thing that is living? Emma Talbot has created an exhibition that sheds light on humanity’s impact on nature and the consequences of the climate crisis. From chaotic destruction to ecological harmony and intimate journeys into the body of an animal, the exhibition addresses themes such as species connections, sustainability, and human resilience in the face of ecological collapse.

Jakob Kudsk Steensen's exhibition Psychosphere transforms Cisternerne’s unique art space, a former underground reservoir, into a deep-sea portal. Through the crucial role of sound, combined with projections, light, and sculptures, the exhibition explores the interconnectedness of all living species on Earth.

Visitors encounter virtual deep-sea landscapes and unique life forms, created from Steensen’s fieldwork and advanced technology, in the underground museum, which fills with water and features an accompanying walkway. This multi-dimensional installation invites reflection on our place in the evolutionary timeline and our responsibility for the future of life. 

Starting February 15, The David Collection presents a special display of Vilhelm Hammershøi, who is considered one of the most important Danish painters. The exhibition Pearls from the Collection features 10 selected works from the museum’s collection. 

Experience well-known landscape motifs, interior paintings, and portraits, including Double Portrait of the Artist and His Wife - one of the few double portraits Hammershøi created of himself and his wife. With 14 paintings and drawings, the museum’s collection is among the four largest in the world, and Open Doors is considered one of the artist’s main pieces of work.

Nanna Ditzel: Breaking Free pays tribute to the visionary work of the Danish design pioneer Nanna Ditzel (1923-2005). The exhibition explores Ditzel’s visionary philosophy and shows how she rethought the relationship between furniture, space, and people. At the exhibition, displayed at DAC’s Gallery Staircase, the audience is invited to physically engage with Ditzel’s modular and flexible designs.