In this second episode of his inspiring survey of THE ART OF SCANDINAVIA, Andrew Graham-Dixon began by looking at Hans Christian Andersen in the light of previous Danish history, especially the megalomaniac King Christian IV, who had grandiose visions of seeing his country become a major European power. He commissioned foreign architects to design him a magnificent palace at Konigsberg, and filled it with portraiture from a variety of sources.
However the Danish dream of glory took a powerful knock in the mid- nineteenth century when they were annihilated by the Prussians. Thereafter their ambitions became more modest - some might say neurotic, and here is where Hans Andersen fitted in. His fairy- tales were not designed for children, but represented uncertain meditations on his country, its position in the European scheme of things, and the possible future of the Danish people.
Compared to mainstream art in southern Europe, Danish art of the period was quite explicit, with nudes painted full-frontal showing off their genitalia. Young girls were asked to pose - not for pornographic purposes, but simply as objects of beauty.
The twentieth century wrought several changes in attitude towards art, combining functionality with a certain aesthetic beauty. Graham- Dixon summed up the thrust of the country in a very non- artistic product - Lego (its most famous export), which although accessible to everyone and eminently pliable, could nonetheless be shaped into objects of beauty.
Modest and beautiful, unassuming yet attractive, Danish art might be not so well known, but it has its particular niche in the geographical structure of Europe.