HANS SCHERFIG. MYTHS AND DREAMS

HANS SCHERFIG. MYTHS AND DREAMS

9 FEBRUARY – 6 SEPTEMBER 2020

As the spring’s big special exhibition is approaching, we invite everyone of all ages to get to know or revisit Scherfig’s wonderful universe. The exhibition is a tribute to the painter and author – and also to nature and the biodiversity that are currently under threat. Most of his work at the exhibition, which focuses on Scherfig’s use of myths and dreams, is inspired by ancient mythology and the Old Testament.

The painter and author Hans Scherfig (1905 – 1979) had never seen an actual jungle or savanna in his life. Throughout his life, however, he dreamed of elephants, giraffes, rhinos and monkeys in their natural habitats. His yearning to become a globe-trotter shines throughout his best-known novels such as Stolen Spring and The Missing Bureaucrat – and manifests freely in his brightly coloured paints of primeval forests. Scherfig’s paintings are devoted to friendly and peaceful herbivores – in a world devoid of predators and killing instinct.

Scherfig’s imagination was nourished at the Botanical Garden and Copenhagen Zoo. Africa, Asia and South America were very far away when he went to school, but today, we fear that nature’s greatest creatures will also soon be far away in time. Scherfig’s animals are currently highly endangered, and we must seek to appreciate their existence with love and respect for as long as we can.