KURS: THE TREE

Fuglsang Kunstmuseum is located in an area rich in trees. Near the ­museum is the Fuglsang Gardens, first established in 1764–84 as a botanical garden and arboretum with a wealth of rare trees and shrubs. However, trees can also be found elsewhere than staged within the carefully designed garden layout; nearby is Skejten, which also has famous trees; sources of inspiration for many an artist throughout the years, a claim that can be corroborated by taking a round of the exhibition rooms at Fuglsang Kunstmuseum. Trees also play an important part in the landscape plan created for the museum’s newly built house (inaugurated in 2008); here, the tree bridges nature and culture, creating coherence and logic in the relationship between the house and the parkland that surrounds it.
Thus, the tree is a significant element in Fuglsang Kunstmuseum’s immediate geographic vicinity as well as in the museum’s collections, and with KURS: THE TREE Fuglsang Kunstmuseum unfolds and explores the tree as motif, metaphor, material, concept, theme, and symbol of visual cognition. The many meanings of the tree are explored by a range of Danish as well as international artists. The exhibition combines works created specifically for the exhibition with loans that delve into and unfurl the motif and cognitive potential of the tree. The artist Søren Lose is a guest curator for the exhibition.