JEAN GAUGUIN & CERAMICS

Experience works by a major innovator in Danish ceramic art

Ordrupgaard houses one of Denmark’s most significant collections of works by Jean René Gauguin (1881–1961). The museum’s founders, Henny and Wilhelm Hansen, recognized the talent of the Danish-French sculptor, and in 1927 they commissioned his major work, the fountain group Merman and Mermaid, which was inaugurated in the Rose Garden the following year. Since then, several more of Gauguin’s works have been added to the collection, and in 2023 the museum received a generous donation from Jean-Paul Guintrand in memory of Jørgen L. Dalgaard. These works are now part of a new display highlighting the artist’s ceramic practice.

The exhibition presents a selection of Gauguin’s ceramic works, all created at the porcelain factory Bing & Grøndahl, where he worked from 1923 and for several decades thereafter. Here, visitors can experience the artist’s colourful and imaginative world populated by animals, humans, and mythical creatures — and gain insight into his exploration of clay’s many expressive possibilities.

The exhibition has been realized with generous support from:

Lizzie og Ejler Ruges Kunstfond
Jørgen Krygers og Anne Ammitzbølls Fond