Nicolai Abildgaard. The Teacher of Friedrich and Runge

6 March – 14 June 2009

In the rooms of the 19th Century

For the first time in Germany, the exhibition presents 100 works by the Danish neoclassical and Romantic artist Nicolai Abildgaard (1743–1809). Abildgaard was Denmark’s first important history painter; he was, however, expressly critical of absolutism. As a professor at the Art Academy in Copenhagen he exerted a great influence on many of his pupils, including Caspar David Friedrich and Philipp Otto Runge. Abildgaard’s paintings, which were influenced as much by the poems of Ossian as by antiquity, reflect the time of new departures and disruptions around 1800. Organised in cooperation with the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, the exhibition reveals the thematic complexity of Abildgaard’s paintings and drawings, and places particular emphasis on the innovative and politically reformist aspects of his work, awareness of which has grown considerably as a result of recent research.

Iin Cooperation with Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen.
Catalogue 39 Euro, available at the Museumsshop and online
www.freunde-der-kunsthalle.de

Curator of the Exhibition: Dr. Jenns Howoldt

With the kind support of

Nicolai Abildgaard (1743 -1809)
Der verwundete Philoctetes,
1775

Nicolai Abildgaard (1743 - 1809)
Ossian singt zur Harfe seinen Schwanengesang, um 1780-82

Nicolai Abildgaard (1743 - 1809)
Ymer wird von der Kuh Adhumbla gesäugt, um 1777

Nicolai Abildgaard (1743 - 1809)
Simo und sein freigelassener Sklave Sosi , 1803

© Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen

22. April, 12 Uhr
Nicolai Abildgaard: Der verwundete Philoktet
Dr. Jenns Howoldt

17. Mai, 11 Uhr
Affekte, Leidenschaften, Schauriges. Nicolai Abildgaards Rezeption von Ossian und
Shakespeare
Dr. Gabriele Himmelmann

11. Juni, 19 Uhr
Kuratorengespräch in der Ausstellung
Nicolai Abildgaard. Der Lehrer von Friedrich und Runge
Dr. Jenns Howoldt