Danish art is the visual arts produced in Denmark or by Danish artists. It goes back thousands of years with significant artifacts from the 2nd millennium BC, such as the Trundholm sun chariot. For many early periods, it is usually considered as part of the wider Nordic art of Scandinavia. Art from what is today Denmark forms part of the art of the Nordic Bronze Age, and then Norse and Viking art. Danish medieval painting is almost entirely known from church frescos such as those from the 16th-century artist known as the Elmelunde Master.
The Gundestrup cauldron
Gothic frescos in Elmelunde Church
Landscape with Northern Lights - Attempt to Paint the Aurora Borealis, 1790s, by Jens Juel.
Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, Woman in front of a Mirror, 1841. French Neo-Classicism transmuted into Biedermeier style.
Church frescos in Denmark
Church frescos or church wall paintings are to be found in some 600 churches across Denmark, no doubt representing the highest concentration of surviving church murals anywhere in the world. Most of them date back to the Middle Ages and were uncovered by Jacob Kornerup (1825–1913) who carried out restoration work in 80 churches across the country towards the end of the 19th century. They lay hidden for centuries as after the reformation, they were covered with limewash only to be revealed and restored during the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. In most of Europe medieval frescos, extremely common in the Middle Ages, were more likely to be removed completely during the Reformation or in subsequent rebuildings, or merely as they aged. The oldest frescos, dating back to the 12th century, were painted in the Romanesque style by artists from elsewhere in Europe but those from the 14th century and thereafter are in the Gothic style which was used by native Danish painters. It is these that are considered to be the most important for Danish art and culture. A distinction is to be made between these church wall paintings or kalkmalerier and the generic term "fresco" which refers to all types of painting on plastered walls or ceilings.
Gothic frescos in Elmelunde Church
Sealand-type Romanesque Christ in Majesty at Alsted.
Grønbæk: Romanesque frescos
St. George in Aarhus Cathedral