Exhibits Across Danish America
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Boliglaboratorium: A Danish Housing Lab
June 21 - August 31, 2025
Chicago Architecture Biennial Studio
The Chicago Architecture Biennial and MAS Context present the exhibition Boliglaboratorium: A Danish Housing Lab featuring six groundbreaking Danish architectural projects. The exhibition will take place at the CAB Studio inside the Chicago Cultural Center (78 East Washington Street. Chicago, IL 60602).
GALLERY VISITS
Open Daily, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
NW Trolls: The Way of the Bird King
Now On View
Portland, OR and Seattle, WA area
Beginning in August 2023, a new six-site art exhibition entitled NW Trolls: Way of the Bird King, will be unveiled. The unique project features six giant hand-built nordic troll characters, designed by acclaimed Danish environmental artist and storyteller Thomas Dambo, to be installed at five locations in the Puget Sound region and one in Portland, Oregon. Scan Design Foundation is managing the collaborative effort with funding, media and site partners from across the region.
Elverhøj Museum of History and Art
1624 Elverhoy Way
Solvang, CA 93463
Elverhøj Museum
Permanent Exhibit
Elverhøj is a quiet gem in the heart of Solvang with a triple focus: documenting the history of Solvang, celebrating Danish culture and the Danish-American immigrant experience, and promoting fine art and artists.
Seattle Asian Art Museum
1400 E Prospect St,
Seattle, WA 98112
Ai Weiwei: Water Lilies
March 19, 2025 - March 15, 2026
Nearly 50 feet in length and made from 650,000 LEGO blocks, Ai Weiwei’s Water Lilies (2022) is the artist’s largest and most ambitious LEGO work to date. This reinterpretation of Claude Monet’s iconic triptych from the Museum of Modern Art in New York offers an equally immersive experience, merging the lush beauty of Monet’s water lilies with Ai’s personal history.
California Nature Art Museum
1511-B Mission Dr
Solvang, CA 93463
Thomas Dambo Troll in Solvang
Now On View
The California Nature Art Museum will host Thomas Dambo to build his first permanent troll in California in January 2025! Thomas Dambo is an internationally renowned Danish artist and recycling activist who is celebrated for his imaginative and colossal sculptures made from recycled materials. Specializing in creating enchanting wooden trolls, Thomas Dambo breathes new life into discarded resources, showcasing the boundless potential hidden within our world’s trash cans.
Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Thomas Dambo Trolls in Minnesota
Now On View
In the spring and early summer of 2024, the efforts of Thomas Dambo, Project 412, and hundreds of local volunteers added Detroit Lakes Troll Hunting to a growing global phenomena. By June, six giant trolls emerged from discarded materials, each strategically placed across various locations in the area. You’ll find them at spots like Detroit Lakes City Park, Dunton Locks and Detroit Mountain.
Hygge Inn & Suites
4037 Main St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Psaligraphy by Bit Vejle
May 22 - August 31, 2025
Museum for Paper Art and National Foundation for Danish America are proud to present our traveling exhibition with the Danish-Norwegian psaligrapher Bit Vejle - one of the most recognized paper cut artists in the world. The traveling exhibitions with Bit Vejle’s artworks have been touring prominent museums all over Scandinavia, USA and China, meeting considerable public attention. They always gain high visitor numbers and have reached the highest number of visitors at several museums.
Solvang Viking & Amber Museum
1660 Copenhagen Drive
Solvang, CA 93463
The Great Hall of the Danes
Permanent Exhibit
Visit The Great Hall of the Danes at THE COPENHAGEN HOUSE. Our Danish Viking exhibit tells the story of the Danish Viking protector, Holger Danske (Holger the Dane), as well as the history of the Danish Viking from the early year 800s all the way up to the Danish Royal Family today.
Museum of Danish America
2212 Washington St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Tour the Museum
Ongoing Exhibit
Enjoy a virtual tour of the Museum of Danish America
Museum of Danish America
2212 Washington St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Lay Of(f) the Land: Nordic Narratives
April 10 - July 31, 2025
Profoundly influenced by Nordic culture, landscape, and even weather, the Art Alliance of the Arctic South (A-A-A-S)
brings together the work of Dragos Alexandrescu (Finland,) Linnéa Therese Dimitriou (Sweden,) Heidi-Anett Haugen (Norway,) Hanna Kanto (Finland,) Lotta Lampa (Sweden,) Patricia Rodas (Finland,) Anastasia Savinova (Sweden,) and Madelaine Sillfors (Sweden.)
Museum of Danish America
2212 Washington St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Sampling the Collection
Virtual Exhibit
Experience the collection and stories of Danish America online! You can explore highlights from the museum in Sampling the Collection
Museum of Danish America
2212 Washington St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Bedstemors House
Permanent Exhibit (Closed during winter season)
Go back in time at Bedstemors House and step into the world of the early 20th century
Bedstemors House was built in 1908 by Jens Otto Christiansen, a Danish immigrant and Elk Horn businessman. According to local stories, he built the house as an engagement gift for a young woman who sadly turned down his marriage proposal. It is unknown if Christiansen ever lived in the home himself, but he rented the home to several families until he sold it to the Salem Old People’s Home in 1933 for “one dollar and other valuable contributions.”
Museum of Danish America
2212 Washington St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park
Permanent Exhibit Open Daily Sunrise-Sunset
The museum's 30-acre campus is developed as the Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park. The park celebrates the Danish immigrant who designed elements of the Chicago Park system and who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright. Jensen pioneered "the prairie school" of landscape architecture that focused attention on using native plantings to emulate natural environments. This outdoor venue provides picturesque landscaping, picnic areas, walkways, and outdoor interpretive stations for a more meaningful museum experience.
Museum of Danish America
2212 Washington St
Elk Horn, IA 51531
Jens Dixen House
Permanent Exhibit (Closed during winter season)
Just down the hill on the north end of the museum is the Jens Dixen House. This small North Dakota homesteader's cabin was originally located just north of the community of Kenmare, where Jens Dixen first moved when he arrived in the area around 1901.
Dixen was a Danish immigrant, school teacher, and preacher. He taught area boys in this house, and primarily focused on spiritual training. During especially harsh North Dakota winters, the students slept in the small space above the one room on the main floor. Dixen's students became known as "shanty boys" because of where they were taught.
Daneville Heritage Museum
200 1/2 W. Park Ave.
Viborg, SD 57070
Daneville Heritage Museum in Viborg, South Dakota
Permanent Exhibit
The Daneville Heritage Museum helps preserve and celebrate Viborg's proud Danish History. Displays include blacksmith tools, the Hooker, SD post office, pioneer dinnerware, doll collection, Christmas room, household items and collections.
Danish Heritage Museum of Danevang
153 County Road 426
Danevang, TX 77432
Danish Heritage Museum of Danevang, Texas
Museum Currently Closed for Repairs
Construction was begun in 2000 on a building designed to resemble a typical Danish barn with a red roof. Alvin Jensen, a native of Danevang and a retired construction engineer, designed the building and supervised the construction. The building was completed the following spring and was dedicated on June 1, 2001. It contains approximately 6,000 square feet display area on the ground floor plus a kitchen and restroom facilities. The second floor has a meeting room , offices, and work space for processing the artifacts and setting up exhibits.
Danish Windmill
4038 Main Street
Elk Horn, Iowa 51531
Danish Windmill Complex in Elk Horn, Iowa
Permanent Exhibit
The Danish Windmill is a working museum, showing visitors the inside workings of a historic mill built in Nørre Snede, Denmark in 1848. It was brought to America in pieces where it was lovingly rebuilt in the Danish Village of Elk Horn by community volunteers in 1976 in honor of their Danish ancestors and restored to working order.
The complex also features a replica of a 900AD Viking smithy’s home and workshop, the tiny Morning Star Chapel and a replica of the village of Ebeltoft, Denmark. The museum store features Danish cultural heritage gifts, books, foods, collectibles from Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl and is an Iowa Welcome Center. Plan your tour to the Danish Villages with just one call to the Danish Windmill!
HCA Museum
1680 Mission Dr
Solvang, CA 93463
Hans Christian Andersen Museum
Permanent Exhibit
The Hans Christian Andersen Museum is operated by the Ugly Duckling Foundation, a non profit organization established to foster public understanding and enjoyment of Hans Christian Andersen and his work. The Museum is located upstairs in The Book Loft Building.
House of Denmark
Balboa Park
San Diego, CA
House of Denmark in San Diego, California
Permanent Exhibit - Open Saturday/Sunday 11am-5pm
The House of Denmark is one of the cottages in the International Village in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. Located off President’s Way between the Organ Pavilion and the Air & Space museum, the village was originally built for the 1935 California Pacific International Exposition. See this historic flyer for more details about the Exposition.
Faurschou Museum
148 Green Street Greenpoint,
Brooklyn New York, NY 11222
Faurschou Museum
Permanent Exhibit
At Faurschou, we collect extraordinary works of art and build ambitious exhibitions to inspire contemplation, encounters, and meaningful experiences between art, artists, and audiences across cultures. Since 1986, we have evolved and expanded our permanent exhibition spaces from Copenhagen to Beijing and New York, with occasional presence in Venice. Our program ranges from solo exhibitions to thematic group shows and is often inspired by our developing collection. We feature special commissions with artists, galleries, and other collaborators.
Central Park
Plaza West of Conservatory Lake
New York, NY
Hans Christian Andersen sculpture
Permanent Exhibit
This bronze larger-than-life-sized figure depicts Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875), Danish poet, novelist, and author of fairy tales including The Ugly Duckling and The Little Mermaid. Sculptor Georg John Lober (1892–1961), who also created the statue of George M. Cohan (1958) in Duffy Square, shows the writer seated on a bench appearing to be reading his semi-autobiographical Ugly Duckling story to a rather attentive 2-foot-high bronze “duckling.”
Mystic Seaport Museum
75 Greenmanville Ave
Mystic, CT 06355
Historic Danish Ships
Permanent Exhibit
Two historic Danish Ships are docked in the harbor of the Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Connecticut. The Gerda III is a Danish workboat used to rescue Danish Jews during WWII, and the Joseph Conrad is a former Danish Training Ship with a tragic past.
Nordic Northwest
8800 SW Oleson Drive
Portland, Oregon 97223
Past Exhibits
A listing of past exhibitions at Nordic Northwest
Northwest Danish Association
1833 N 105th St
Suite 101
Seattle, WA 98133
Snapshots: Traveling with H.C. Andersen
Virtual Exhibit
An art exhibition by Danish artist Susanne Thea
Petersen House Museum
1414 W Southern Ave
Tempe, AZ
The Petersen House Museum
Permanent Exhibit
One of Tempe's most beautiful historic homes, the Niels Petersen House Museum stands as a reminder of Tempe’s past and the residents who helped pave the way for future generations.
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Nordic Echoes—Tradition In Contemporary Art
April 5 - August 2, 2025
Nordic Echoes — Tradition in Contemporary Art
is the first major traveling exhibition of contemporary Nordic folk arts and cultural traditions from the Upper Midwest (North and South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan). Featuring 55 works by 24 contemporary artists whose practices are informed by Nordic traditional skills, the exhibition will showcase the malleability and persistence of these traditions in the U.S.
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi, The National Gallery of Denmark
Virtual Exhibit
On view at Scandinavia House in 2015-16, Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi from SMK – The National Gallery of Denmark presented a wide selection of masterpieces by celebrated Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916), the first exhibition in New York exclusively dedicated to the artist's work in over 15 years
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Danish Paintings from the Golden Age to the Modern Breakthrough: Selections of Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr.
Virtual Exhibit
Drawn from the distinguished private collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr., "Danish Paintings from the Golden Age to the Modern Breakthrough: Selections from the Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr.," on view at Scandinavia House in 2013/14, traced the developments in Danish art from the early 19th through the early 20th centuries—a period that saw the emergence of a distinctive national approach to painting in Denmark.
Scandinavia House
58 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10016
Online Nordic Art & Culture
Virtual Exhibits
Gallery tours of past exhibitions are added on a regular basis; check back for more visual art online.
Danish American Archive & Library
1738 Washington
Blair, NE 68008
Spreading "The Word": The Dana College Theater Troupe Tour of 1942
Virtual Exhibit
The Danish American Archive and Library in Blair, Nebraska, presents its first stand-alone online exhibit: Spreading “The Word”: The Dana College Theater Troupe Tour of 1942. The exhibit tells the story of a group of students at the now-defunct Dana College who went on tour to 12 Midwestern Danish American communities in six states. The students performed a play in the original Danish language by the acclaimed Danish playwright Kaj Munk, who two years later was assassinated by German Nazis. Dana College had strong Danish roots, and the exhibit also highlights how WWII and the German occupation of Denmark impacted the students.
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