In episode two of Andrew Graham-Dixon’s epic journey through Scandinavian art and landscape, Denmark emerges from modest beginnings to become a great power and arbiter of taste in northern Europe, a story of transformation befitting the homeland of the greatest fairytale spinner of them all, Hans Christian Andersen. In this film, Graham-Dixon traces Denmark’s failed imperial experiment, beginning with Christian IV’s reign. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Andersen, Bertel Thorvaldsen and Christoffer Eckersberg represented a golden age in Danish art. After defeat by Prussia in 1864, Denmark turned inward and focused on building a stable, democratic nation, illustrated in Vilhelm Hammershoi’s introverted paintings. The “small is beautiful” mentality is further seen in Danish modern furniture design, inspired by the “hygge” concept, and in Legoland.
