Nick Oberthaler: Den Frie Udstilling: Vienna-Copenhagen Group show at Den Frie

With the exhibition Den Frie Udstilling: Vienna–Copenhagen, the members of Den Frie Udstilling invite their sister institution, Wiener Secession, to join as guest exhibitors.

Den Frie Udstilling is Denmark’s oldest artists’ association, founded in 1891 as an alternative to the censored exhibitions at Charlottenborg. Its artists turned towards the international art world and drew inspiration from new artistic movements. Den Frie Udstillingsbygning was built in 1893 and relocated in 1898 to its current location at Oslo Plads, where the association continues to exhibit annually.

Wiener Secession was founded a few years after Den Frie Udstilling, in 1897, by a group of artists around Gustav Klimt who had broken away from the conservative Künstlerhaus. In 1898, Joseph Maria Olbrich designed the Secession building as a built manifesto—a structure symbolising the new association’s commitment to pioneering modernist ideas. The Secession building was a significant inspiration for Willumsen’s design for Den Frie Udstilling.