Carl Bloch

11.02.2023 - 29.05.2023

Carl Bloch

In the spring of 2023, SMK will present a large exhibition featuring Danish artist Carl Bloch (1834– 1890). A unique opportunity to discover or rediscover the phenomenon that is Carl Bloch – a spectacular artist who suffered a rapid fall from superstar to object of scorn.

Fall of a superstar

Few Danish artists have suffered the same fate as Carl Bloch. In his own day he was famous and highly acclaimed, but after his death he was largely written out of art history and his pictures put in storage. Critics claimed that his art was outdated. He was not modern in the ‘right’ way.

Still, audiences continued to stand by Bloch. His virtuoso technique and ability to tell a story never lost its ability to fascinate, and to this day his In a Roman Osteria remains SMK’s most popular work of art. Explore Bloch’s impressive life’s work

With this new, major exhibition, SMK presents Carl Bloch as an artist poised between the Danish Golden Age from which he was rounded and the modern, fragmented world dawning around the time of his death.

In the exhibition you will find a large selection of Bloch’s paintings: religious images, sentimental and comic scenes, a budding realism, history paintings and much more. Carl Bloch did it all. Join us as SMK takes a fresh look at the story of one of Danish art’s most celebrated artists and invites you to delve into his impressive life’s work.