Highlights from the collection: Jens Ferdinand Willumsen

This summer (from 30 May) we present a selection of works by the Danish artist Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863–1958) in the Söderberg Room, and a few pieces spread around the other galleries. Willumsen was one of Scandinavia’s most famous artists in the early 1900s. His multifaceted practice is characterised by experiments in style and dynamic composition. Ernest Thiel bought seven works by Willumsen and was a patron of his solo exhibition in Stockholm in 1907. In the Söderberg Room you will find all Willumsen’s works in our collection, except for the imposing painting Sun over Southern Mountains (1901), which is shown in the Munch Room (see above).

This autumn, we welcome you to our exhibition On Whose Shoulders[GB1] . Lars von Trier Curates, organised in collaboration with the Willumsen Museum in Fredrikssund, Denmark. The museum has also lent us early paintings, such as Two Women Walking (1890) and the late painting The Evening Soup (1918).

Willumsen is more or less forgotten in Sweden today. In 1969, his works were featured by the Thiel Gallery in what was then our largest exhibition to date. Photographs from that exhibition and correspondence between J. F. Willumsen and Ernest Thiel are shown in the Söderberg Room. These letters are also available digitally on our website, under Search the collection.