Denmark

The risen Christ, half-shrouded and displaying his wounds, supported by two angels in front of a landscape referencing the women's road from Jerusalem to Calvary – a devotional close-up merged with narrative landscape, its porphyry sarcophagus reflecting Mantegna's fascination with antiquity.

“This painting follows the text in its depiction of the landscape in the background.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Decorated glazed dish Islamic world · 1400–1599 CE

A portrait believed to depict Giovanni Bellini, painted by his former pupil Titian with a twisting pose and gaze that introduce movement into what had been a static Venetian portrait tradition, at a time when the two were rival candidates for a major Doge's Palace commission.

“As the official painter of the Republic, Bellini chose to be portrayed wearing his official dress, a black costume worn by doctors, lawyers, civil servants, merchants, and aristocrats.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Salt Cellar Africa · first quarter of the 16th century

An enigmatic iron etching showing a wild-haired horseman resembling Dürer himself abducting a woman on a horned, horse-like creature; its meaning remains unresolved, and it survives in only six known iron-plate etchings by Dürer's hand.

“In spite of great diligence and learning, no-one has as yet provided an entirely satisfactory account of the underlying meaning of this iron etching.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Salt Cellar Africa · first quarter of the 16th century

Three naked toddlers play with a hoop while a brooding, winged woman whittles a stick and witches ride through a strange landscape behind them – one of Cranach's most mysterious and widely discussed paintings, its full meaning still debated by scholars.

“The sixteenth-century artist Lucas Cranach has become very popular in recent years, prompting a steady succession of exhibitions featuring his mysterious images.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Manuscript Page from the Golestan of Sa’di Islamic world · 1526–1530

A vast, crowded canvas of nude, muscular titans tumbling into the underworld after their defeat by the Olympian gods, purchased by King Christian IV in 1621 and now one of SMK's most popular paintings after decades in storage.

“Since then, this vast painting by Dutch artist Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlems has been one of the most beloved works in the SMK collection.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Cypress Trees East Asia · Azuchi-Momoyama period, 1590

King Solomon orders a disputed child cut in two to reveal its true mother, in a composition built on a contrast of warm and cold colour; the large canvas was designed by Rubens but largely painted by his workshop.

“The first Book of Kings in the Bible (3:16-28) tells the story of how King Solomon had to pass judgment in a case concerning two prostitutes who lived in the same house and had given birth at the same time.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Hasan’s cloak Islamic world · Last third of the 16th century, reworked mid-17th century

A face emerging from darkness, built up through Rembrandt's five-step layering of light and painted as a preparatory study for the head of Saint Bavo in a larger painting now in Gothenburg.

“Surrounded by darkness, a face lights up the canvas.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Mere pounamu (greenstone striking weapon) "Amokura" Americas & Oceania · Māori, 1500–1820

A luxurious 'pronk' still life built around a rock-crystal bowl once owned by Henry VIII, Chinese porcelain, and a pocket watch, rendered in the glowing chiaroscuro Kalf perfected in his mature Amsterdam years.

“Willem Kalf came from a wealthy merchant family from Rotterdam.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Nam Giao Temple Stele South Asia · 1679 (4th year of the Vĩnh Trị reign, Lê Hy Tông)

The Greek hero Philoctetes writhes in pain from a festering snakebite, his body twisted around an axis of agony in a deliberate challenge to neoclassicism's ideals of calm and self-command, painted while Abildgaard held a scholarship in Rome.

“It was while in Rome that he created this depiction of the legendary hero Philoctetes, whose screams of pain caused by a festering snakebite made his comrades-in-arms abandon him on a Greek island during the Trojan war.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Hei tiki (pendant in human form) Americas & Oceania · Māori, 1700–1847

The merchant Niels Ryberg sits in the parkland of his manor Frederiksgave with his son and daughter-in-law gesturing toward the family estate – Juel's largest work, and a portrait that shows Denmark's rising merchant class asserting the same status long claimed by the aristocracy.

“The merchant Niels Ryberg is shown sitting on a bench in the parklands of the manor house Frederiksgave on Funen, with his son Johan Christian and his daughter-in-law Engelke in front of him.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Busabok Kroen throne South Asia · Rattanakosin period, reign of Rama I (1782–1809)

An expansive, sunlit view of the still-rural Østerbrogade near Købke's home by the Sortedam Lake, filled with fishwives, farmers, and grazing cattle going about an ordinary summer morning, rendered on an unusually large scale for an everyday scene.

“In the years that followed he found many of his motifs by the lake.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Portrait of Takami Senseki East Asia · Edo period, dated 1837 (Tenpo 8)

Eckersberg's adult daughters Julie and Emilie sit reading by a studio window overlooking Kongens Nytorv, dwarfed by the tall window frame in a composition whose real subject is the room's carefully balanced light and geometry.

“They do not look out the window, but are reading a book.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Retrato de Manuelita Rosas Americas & Oceania · 1851

Mourners gathered in a light-filled, low-ceilinged room for the funeral of a Skagen local Ancher had painted years earlier; a meditative scene that shows Ancher's mastery of colour and her place among Denmark's leading Impressionist painters.

“We are free to investigate the space unnoticed, find our place, and let ourselves be absorbed by the meditative calm.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Mangaaka Power Figure (Nkisi N’Kondi) Africa · ca. 1880–1900

A pencil study of the artist's wife Ida, made in London in 1897–98 as preparation for a larger double portrait Hammershøi hoped to show at London's International Society – a quiet, veiled likeness rather than a conventional portrait.

“For example, they lived in London from the end of October 1897 to the end of May 1898.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Retrato del Sr. Juan Carlos Muñoz Americas & Oceania · 1899

Boys bathing on the beach at Skagen in the blue glow of a Nordic summer night, built on a diagonal composition leading the eye out to sea – one of the best-known works by the most celebrated of the Skagen Painters.

“He would make any composition work as perfectly as could be using only a few simple devices.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Retrato del Sr. Juan Carlos Muñoz Americas & Oceania · 1899

A pared-back portrait of the artist's wife, Amélie, built from simple geometric structure and bold, unmodulated planes of colour rather than conventional light and shadow – one of Matisse's most celebrated paintings and a landmark of twentieth-century portraiture, painted after his Fauvist summer with André Derain in Collioure.

“Much of its strength resides in its simple geometric structure and in the way in which the colours are combined.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Estudio (Study) Americas & Oceania · c. 1905

A half-undressed dancer from the Montmartre nightclub Le Rat Mort, painted with the bold colour and confident, simplified line of Derain's Fauvist period; among SMK's most popular and most reproduced paintings.

“Half undressed, the dancer sits with her stockinged legs crossed, slumped on what looks like a bed as she looks directly out at us.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — The Hanging Place of the Maji Maji War Heroes (Eneo la manyongeo, Songea) Africa · site of the executions of 27 February 1906

A frontal portrait of a girl rendered in Modigliani's mature idiom of simplified, elongated forms drawing on African masks and medieval art, painted during his years in Montparnasse.

“Modigliani worked almost exclusively with the human figure and is particularly well known for his portraits.” In the museum’s words — smk.dk ↗ · quotation verified against the live page

Meanwhile — Cerro Largo (La Aguada) Americas & Oceania · 1918