Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located directly on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, 35 km north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark with an extensive permanent collection of modern and contemporary art, dating from World War II and up until now, as well as a comprehensive programme of special exhibitions. The museum is also acknowledged as a milestone in modern Danish architecture, noted for the synthesis it creates of art, architecture and landscape. The museum is included in the Patricia Schultz book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and #90 on a list of most visited art museums in the world.

The name of the museum derives from the first owner of the property, Alexander Brun, who named the villa after his three wives, all named Louise. The museum was created in 1958 by Knud W. Jensen, the owner at the time. He contacted architect Vilhelm Wohlert who spent a few months walking around the property before deciding how a new construction would best fit into the landscape. This study resulted in the first version of the museum consisting of three buildings connected by glass corridors. Since then it has been extended several times until it reached its present circular shape in 1991.

It has a wide range of modern art paintings, sculptures and videos dating from World War II up to now, including works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Anselm Kiefer, Alberto Giacometti, Pablo Picasso, Yves Klein, Robert Rauschenberg and Asger Jorn. The videos are often housed in room settings where the viewer is made to feel part of the scene being portrayed. Besides the collection of modern art, Louisiana also displays a collection of Pre-Columbian art. Consisting of more than 400 objects, the collection was a donation from the Wessel-Bagge Foundation in 2001.

Perched above the sea, there is a sculpture garden between the museum's two wings. It is made up by a plateau and the sloping terrain towards Øresund and is dominated by huge, ancient specimen trees and sweeping vistas of the sea. It contains works by such artists as Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Max Bill, Alexander Calder, Henri Laurens, Louise Bourgeois, Joan Miró and Henry Moore. The sculptures are either placed so that they can be viewed from within, in special sculpture yards or independently around the gardens, forming a synthesis with the lawns, the trees and the sea.

The Concert Hall was built in 1976 in connection with the West Wing which had been built in 1966 and 1971. Its acoustics make it especially fit for chamber music but it is also used for other musical genre as well as a wide array of others events and activities such as debates, lectures and symposiums.