Rudolph Tegner Museum and Sculpture Park

Rudolph Tegner first found inspiration in ancient Greek sculpture, and in the work of Michelangelo, which he encountered during his travels in Italy. He later lived and worked in Paris, where he further drew on the art of the Symbolist movement, as well as Art Nouveau and the realism of Auguste Rodin. In 1911 he married the painter Elna Jørgensen (1889–1976). His work, represented by sculptures such as A Faun (1891) and King Oedipus and Antigone (1903), was considered challenging by many of his contemporaries, used to the restrained Classicism of Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844).

The Rudolph Tegner Museum began to take shape after Tegner bought the land near Dronningmølle, north of Copenhagen, in 1916. He began experimenting with displaying his sculptures here, and, from the 1930s onwards, set about designing the museum with the assistance of the Danish architect Mogens Lassen (1901-1987). The Museum was built to a Modernist design that had to be large enough to accommodate Tegner's large-scale sculptures. It was among the first buildings to make use of concrete as an aesthetic choice, and is lit entirely through skylights, effectively separating the interior sculptures from the landscape outside. Tegner himself, along with his wife, is buried at the centre of the building. Some fourteen sculptures are displayed in the park outside, across undulating heathland. The Museum also hosts a range of temporary exhibitions.