The museum at Kilen

FRANCISKA CLAUSEN

No Danish artist has played such a central role for the European avant-garde as Franciska Clausen. Even before she turned 20, she left her childhood town of Aabenraa. While Europe was engulfed in the flames of the First World War, she established ties with what became the art environment of the European avant-garde in the 1920s and 1930s.

In Munich, Berlin and Paris, she started as a student of, among others, Lászlo Moholy-Nagy and Fernand Léger, and soon she was an equal colleague with them and with other world-famous artists such as Le Courbusier, Piet Mondrian and Jean Arp.

On behalf of the Foundation for Franciska Clausen's Collections, Museum Sønderjylland houses more than 2,500 of Franciska Clausen's works, in addition to the main works that are in the museum's own possession. She preserved life through an experimental practice, and we create space to show that here.

In the new museum, we offer the public the opportunity to experience a permanent presentation of Franciska Clausen's works. We want to create opportunities for special exhibitions where we can show works by Danish and international artists, and have the opportunity to show their work as part of an innovative international art movement. In short, we want to present Franciska Clausen as the pioneering artist she was.

ART DESTINATION NØRREPORT

In 2022, a number of younger Danish contemporary artists were given the task of creating a unique, permanent exhibition of works of art for eight of the city's narrow, medieval passages.

If you follow Kilen towards the center and continue via the stairs up the slope, you will come to the first work. 

As inspiration, the artists were introduced to elements of Aabenraa's DNA: Shipping and shipyards, the Danish-German dual culture, great artists, trade, craftsmanship, organ building, town planning, awareness of sustainability and international outlook. The works are part of the urban development plan "Fremtidens Aabenraa".

You can read more about the artists and their works here. (QR:

Gargoyle

Strømmen

Archetype

Imagine Possible Trees

μmwelt

oui

Kompleks­ form­ nr. 1

AabenraaOrgan

THE MARITIME CITY AND THE MARITIME TALES

The place name Kilen tells you that you are standing on a dammed cove. When a market town has grown here, it is primarily due to the access to the deep fjord, its fish and its access to the world's oceans. The cove was dammed in 1856 to make room for a growing town, and Aabenraa still benefits from having a vibrant commercial port. There will be a view of it from the new museum. 

The maritime history in Aabenraa is not the same as in the rest of the country, because the town only became part of Denmark in 1920. During the wars with England in the early 1800s, the city was not bound by the same restrictions as, for example, Helsingør and Marstal. It was extremely lucrative for both shipyards, merchants, sailors and traders. 

Shipping and shipyards made Aabenraa a thriving town, and you can see that to this day. The city's streets contain well-preserved and beautiful environments and houses from the 18th and early 19th centuries that very few other Danish cities can match.
The city's shipyards built large wooden ships that were among the largest, fastest and best of the time. The ships were owned locally and were manned by local and visiting sailors who made a living sailing on the oceans of the world.

VISIT JØRGEN BRUHNS KALVØ

In 1847, the Royal Agent bought shipowner Jørgen Bruhn Kalvø at Genner Bay. Here he built the shipyard that was to become one of the largest in Denmark. On the island he built, among other things, Northern Europe's largest and fastest merchant frigate. The association Det Maritime Kalvø runs a small museum in the shipyard's old main building "Herrehuset". Both here and at the Maritime Museum, you will learn more about how Bruhn's activities – in addition to lucrative and dangerous long voyages on the world's oceans – also included piracy and industrial espionage.