Ida Recommends – In the Footsteps of Artists Along Roskilde Fjord

The Artists’ Fjord Landscape

The landscapes around Roskilde Fjord are truly distinctive. In some places the terrain is flat, while elsewhere it rises gently, offering views across a changing patchwork of fields, forests and the fjord itself. Along the shoreline lie both small towns and larger settlements, and for many hundreds of years this varied landscape has attracted artists to the area.

The fjord is also artistically fascinating in its own right, as the water reflects the sky and thereby enhances the quality and intensity of the light throughout the landscape.

Use this guide as inspiration for exploring the fjord landscape – by bicycle, by car, or possibly by bus.

L.A. Ring – Roskilde and Sankt Jørgensbjerg

We begin in Roskilde, a town where many artists over the years have lived and been drawn to its historic centre and its distinctly hilly landscape, which offers several fine viewpoints overlooking the fjord.

One of the most important artists to have lived in Roskilde is L.A. Ring (1854–1933). After residing in various other parts of Zealand, Ring moved to Roskilde in 1914 together with his wife Sigrid and their three children. Here they had a villa built at the top of Uglebjerg on Sankt Jørgensbjerg, with views across the fjord, the old rooftops and Roskilde Cathedral.

L.A. Ring is a central figure in Danish art history, recognised as a naturalist, realist and symbolist.

Visit L.A. Ring’s Studio

At Brøndgade 1, Ring also purchased a small house that was intended to serve as his studio. If you visit the site today, you can explore L.A. Ring’s Studio, which hosts changing exhibitions and a range of interpretive activities. If you move towards the rear of the garden, you can enjoy the beautiful view across the rooftops of Sankt Jørgensbjerg and the church.

The differences in elevation on Sankt Jørgensbjerg, together with the highly authentic houses dating from the late 18th century, inspired Ring to create a wide range of motifs from the area.

With a leaflet from Ring’s Studio in hand, you can follow in the footsteps of even more of his motifs.

View over Roskilde

In another motif, Ring turns his gaze towards the town of Roskilde. The view may originate from his villa, and the scene is set in winter, as is often the case in Ring’s landscape paintings.

Rooftops dusted with melting snow, bare treetops, electricity poles and the grey sky are all highly characteristic elements of L.A. Ring’s visual world.

The cathedral remains recognisable, but beyond that much has changed. A few houses in the area are still preserved today, yet most of the surroundings have since been built up.

Ancient Monuments in the Landscape

The journey now continues out into the landscape, steeped in the echoes of history. The most visible ancient monuments along the stretch between Roskilde and Frederikssund are the megalithic tombs, which can be encountered at several points in the landscape.

In the early 19th century, the National Museum began registering ancient monuments across Denmark, and a number of excavations were initiated. This development attracted great interest among artists and writers during the period of National Romanticism (also known as the Danish Golden Age), when history, legends, myths and archaeology became popular subjects to explore.

We are familiar with this interest, for example, from Adam Oehlenschläger and his fascination with the Golden Horns. Likewise, within the visual arts there was a wealth of artists who found the ancient monuments in the landscape compelling motifs to depict.

The artist J. Kornerup (1825–1913) was also an archaeologist, and he combined his professional expertise with his creative talent in a series of watercolours. His motifs were drawn primarily from in and around Roskilde, where he lived.

Many of his illustrations were used in publications such as Danske Mindesmærker and Trap Denmark. A distinctive feature of these works is the way the megalithic tombs are integrated into the landscape, typically covered with moss and surrounded by wild plants.

Hødyssen, located on Sognevej east of Gundsømagle, is one such monument and can still easily be seen today. Another megalithic tomb near Hejnstrupvej is now more difficult to access, but a drawing from 1864 with Roskilde Cathedral in the background nevertheless provides a vivid impression of the area as it appeared at the time.

Explore the area yourself to discover more of the region’s burial mounds and megalithic tombs.

Vilhelm Hammershøi in Gundsømagle

You may already be familiar with the painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916), but did you know that he also spent time in the landscapes of the Fjordlandet region? It is difficult to determine exactly where this particular painting was executed, but it originates from Gundsømagle and dates from his early years as an artist.

Hammershøi is best known for his depictions of empty interiors, often featuring his wife Ida as a model, yet he also worked extensively with landscape painting.

Especially during the summer months, he spent several weeks in the countryside, renting rooms on farms. From there he was able to paint motifs such as this one, which display his characteristic light, shimmering brushwork. The landscape is rendered in muted colours, and the treetops appear almost to vibrate against the light of the sky.

Hammershøi was entirely his own artist and ushered landscape painting into a new era, strongly influenced by the emergence of photography.

In Gundsømagle, you can also experience the forest and the area’s distinctive reed beds.

H.A. Brendekilde in Jyllinge

We now arrive in Jyllinge, on the shores of Roskilde Fjord. In this idyllic fjordside town, with its old half-timbered houses and fine views across the water, the painter H.A. Brendekilde (1857–1942) settled in 1923. Here he found inspiration in the rural life of the surrounding area.

Brendekilde was a close friend of L.A. Ring, and in their youth they shared both a studio and a flat in Copenhagen. Later in life, they once again settled near one another and, in the early years of the 20th century, became part of a small artists’ community along Roskilde Fjord.

Like Ring, Brendekilde was a highly successful social realist painter in his early career, but later his style became more romantic and idyllic.

The painting of a small girl seated on a stone beside a country lane belongs among Brendekilde’s late, almost romantic motifs. What is striking is that if you stand in several places in Jyllinge’s old town today, the view is largely unchanged.

For example, you can visit Fjordglimts Café og Kulturhus, from where you enjoy almost the same view towards Lilleø in Roskilde Fjord as in Brendekilde’s time.

The Islands of Roskilde Fjord

The painter Johannes Larsen (1867–1961) is most commonly associated with the island of Funen. However, the drawings presented here originate from Eskilsø, situated in the middle of Roskilde Fjord. If you look closely, you can discern Roskilde Cathedral in the background.

Eskilsø is the largest island in Roskilde Fjord, and Johannes Larsen stayed here in connection with the book project The Danish Islands, which he illustrated. In his own distinctive manner, he captured both the island’s landscape of cornfields and flying birds, as well as the fjord itself, with stones and the flat fjord landscape.

In the motif overlooking Roskilde, one senses how the fjord and the sky merge into one, as Larsen uses dense black ink lines to depict the rain falling across the landscape.

Johannes Larsen is particularly renowned for his depictions of birds, animals and landscapes. Strongly inspired by the methods of the French Impressionists, he was deeply engaged with capturing fleeting moments and working en plein air, of which the drawings from Eskilsø are an excellent example.

J. Th. Lundbye – Cliffs along Roskilde Fjord

We now cross to the other side of the fjord, to the stretch along the eastern side of Færgelunden.

As the saying goes, exaggeration helps convey the point – and that is certainly the case here. The Golden Age painter J. Th. Lundbye (1818–1848) devoted his far too short life to painting the Danish landscape.

During the 1830s and 1840s, a strong sense of national identity prevailed, focusing on God, king and country, as well as what was considered distinctly Danish. This included nature, ancient monuments and castles.

Lundbye travelled extensively through the landscape, including the area around Jægerspris. He aspired to paint a Danish coastline and found inspiration in the coast near Kitnæs (today known as Kignæs).

The painting was not intended as a depiction of a specific stretch of coast, but rather as an image of the ideal Danish shoreline, rendered in a romantic style entirely in keeping with the spirit of the early and mid-19th century.

Notice the two figures and the horse standing in the foreground; the scale between them and the surrounding nature is striking. At the top of the cliff grow both pine trees and deciduous trees, and Lundbye’s interest in geology is also evident in his choice of motif, with the prominent cliff face.

Walking along the coast today, it may not look exactly like the painting, but it is fascinating that this very stretch inspired Lundbye to create one of the absolute masterpieces of Danish art.

The Ancient Oak Trees of Nordskoven

Jægerspris Nordskov is renowned for several very old oak trees, including Denmark’s oldest trees, the King Oak (Kongeegen) and the Stork Oak (Storkeegen), both estimated to be around 800 years old. Today, only their remains survive, but in 1843 they were still alive, which attracted the artist P.C. Skovgaard (1817–1875).

In the spirit of National Romanticism that characterised this period, Skovgaard was deeply concerned with shared history and nature. An ancient and historically significant tree such as this therefore constituted an obvious and compelling subject.

Skovgaard, like many of his fellow artists, ventured out into the landscape and nature to produce sketches. In this particular sketch, he worked meticulously with detail. Using multiple lines in different directions, he created a sense of light and shadow in the leaves, on the massive trunk and in the tree’s branches. Just beneath the canopy stands a man – perhaps the artist himself? In the right-hand corner, there are also small, unfinished studies of other tree crowns.

If you are in Nordskoven, you are also close to Jægerspris Castle and its surrounding park. Visiting this beautiful historic site is always a memorable experience. For more than 600 years it served as a royal hunting and pleasure castle, before becoming the private residence of Countess Danner and King Frederik VII in 1854.

The Fjord near Frederikssund

There is a very special, almost mystical atmosphere in this motif. The water of the fjord is completely still, reflecting the greyish sky. One senses that not a breath of wind is stirring.

The only element that disturbs the landscape of gentle hills and calm fjord waters is the presence of two bathing figures – perhaps a mother and her child. This creates an almost divine atmosphere, even though the landscape itself is depicted in a thoroughly naturalistic manner.

The motif is believed to originate from Roskilde Fjord. To the left, one can discern Frederikssund, while Jægerspris lies on the opposite shore.

The painting by Vilhelm Kyhn (1819–1903) dates from the 1880s, a period when many visual artists began to take a greater interest in everyday realism and the darker sides of life as part of what became known as the Modern Breakthrough.

Kyhn, however, devoted his entire life to landscape painting, driven by a strong interest in national identity, which experienced a revival after the war of 1864. In a painting such as this, we gain a unique insight into how the fjord landscape has not changed significantly, despite more than 150 years having passed.

Willumsen – One of a Kind in Danish Art History

As a conclusion to this journey in the footsteps of art along Roskilde Fjord, it is fitting to end at a museum.

J.F. Willumsen (1863–1958) was truly one of a kind in Danish art history. He remained active for more than 70 years as a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, ceramicist, architect and photographer.

In many ways, he was a forerunner of modern art and caused considerable debate in his own time on several fronts. Among other influences, he drew inspiration from Vitalism and Symbolism, combining an expressive visual language with figurative motifs.

Willumsen’s world of motifs often drew on classical art-historical references and traditions, yet his painterly style was entirely new and expressive, engaging in dialogue with the visual culture of his own time, including photography, advertising and popular imagery. For much of his life, he lived abroad – among other places in Venice, Rome, Nice and Cannes – a fact that is also clearly reflected in his works.

At the museum, you can explore his fascinating artistic practice in depth, and there are also several changing special exhibitions.

Two Noteworthy Churches

If you are in Frederikssund or the area around Slangerup, you can also connect the route with a visit to a couple of historically interesting churches.

In Jørlunde Church, you can experience several fine wall paintings dating from the mid-12th century. The present Slangerup Church dates from 1588. During the Middle Ages, Slangerup was one of Denmark’s important market towns, and it is in this context that Slangerup Church, dedicated to St Michael, should be understood.

Please consult the churches’ websites for opening hours and information about visiting the interiors.

Experience the Landscape by Bicycle – or by Bus

There are excellent opportunities to explore the area by car or bicycle, and many of the sites can also be reached by bus.

For example, take bus 600S from Roskilde Station to Jyllinge, bus 230R from Frederikssund Station to Jægerspris Castle, or bus 358 from Roskilde Station to Stenløse Station. All of these routes pass through the beautiful landscape between fjord and farmland.

Looking for More Art in Fjordlandet?

In Fjordlandet, you can experience both established professional art and emerging talent, represented by numerous artists and galleries as well as artworks in open public spaces. Set out into the beautiful Fjordlandet for a day filled with experiences for all the senses.

Find more art in Fjordlandet here.

Don’t Miss the Local Delicacies
 

Taste the Local Wine

In the open, peaceful and gently rolling landscape just outside Frederikssund, you will find Langelinie Vin. The vineyard and its fields are carefully maintained according to strong sustainability principles, and all work with the vines is carried out entirely by hand.

Viking Mead and Honeybees

Perched high above the landscape with views across Roskilde Fjord lies the farm Snoremark, where Karin and Thomas brew their award-winning mead using recipes known from the Viking Age. They run a well-stocked farm shop and also keep an apple cider orchard, goats and bees – some of which you are even welcome to meet up close.

Coffee with a Clear Conscience

Continue along the fjord to Just Coffee, which imports and roasts organic coffee. You can visit their roastery from Monday to Saturday and buy freshly roasted coffee to take home, a coffee to go, or other treats. All of the coffee is organically grown by small-scale producers, and all packaging is made from recycled paper and biodegradable materials.

Book an overnight stay at Skjalm Hvide Hotel, which is centrally located in relation to Fjordlandet’s many attractions and at the same time very close to Copenhagen.

Skjalm Hvide Hotel offers a variety of stay packages tailored to all seasons. In the restaurant, you can request vegetarian and vegan alternatives to the menu – simply ask your server. The hotel is part of the Small Danish Hotels group.