A spectacular encounter with a large selection of the many new works Louisiana has acquired over the past years.
From 2022 to 2025, Louisiana had once again been able to add a broad and important variety of works to the museum collection. Great surprises therefore awaited with works in the entire South Wing as well as several rooms in the North Wing.
The exhibition presented more than 130 works by some 80 artists – half of whom were new to the collection. In time they spanned from a 1945 self-portrait by Diane Arbus to works created in 2025 by Gauri Gill and Issy Wood.
The presentation encompassed painting, photography, sculpture, video works and installations. And here you came across both classics and artists who had been exhibited at the museum in previous years - names such as Diane Arbus, Firelei Báez, Dana Schutz, Alex Da Corte and Richard Prince.
ICONIC TAKES
The presentation featured encounters with several of the true icons of modern art and their interpretations of well-known myths, materials and themes. Here were Marlene Dumas' depiction of the Greek legend of Marsyas (in the Giacometti Hall) and Martha Rosler's acclaimed series about the Vietnam War, House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home.
On show was Paul McCarthy & Mike Kelley’s installation Heidi, a grim and iconic paraphrase of alpine idyll as well as several works by Ed Ruscha, widely regarded as the master when it comes to interpreting the development of modern visual culture in and around Los Angeles.
Ruscha has become particularly known for his cool, sober renderings of Hollywood logos, stylized gas stations and archetypal American landscapes. Motifs that he distills into an image language that is both accessible and cinematic and at the same time full of subtle codes. In 2018, Louisiana presented the exhibition Very with Ruscha’s works on paper – read more
FUTURE CONTACT
Presented as well was a large number of contemporary artists that the museum’s guests met for the first time. Contemporary art remains a natural and vital focal point when it comes to collecting, “as it constantly gives the museum the opportunity to renew the contact (and the contract) with our present and near future,” explains Louisiana director Poul Erik Tøjner.
Intimate & harrowing
American photographer and activist Nan Goldin's masterpiece 'Memory Lost' became part of the museum collection in 2023. This intimate and heartbreaking work revolves around abuse, friendship, love, deprivation and loss.
Nan Goldin has battled with addicition and came close to dying a few years ago as a result of her addiction to the painkiller OxyContin. Since then, she has been at the forefront of the fight against the Sackler family, the producers of this drug, which in large part has caused the current, devastating opioid epidemic in the United States.
'Memory Lost' is jointly owned by the Louisiana and Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
WHY LOUISIANA KEEPS COLLECTING
Louisiana does not collect for the sake of collecting, but because the collection, according to Poul Erik Tøjner, is the DNA strand of the museum:
“The possibility of adding new works is crucial because it provides material for new and different stories and for surprising encounters, supports the dynamic development of the collection and contributes to future-proofing Louisiana as an up-to-date museum of international class.”
Collecting principles
Louisiana collects according to several principles. This may involve the acquisition of additional works by artists who are already represented and important to the museum. There may be obvious shortcomings in the historical period that the collection covers – that is, from 1945 onwards. And finally, there is contemporary art, a field in constant motion, both in terms of interesting artists and forms of expression. Ultimately, however, Louisiana collects for the benefit of both new and loyal guests.
GENEROUS SUPPORT
This presentation of new works rested largely on the extremely generous support from not least the Augustinus Foundation and the New Carlsberg Foundation as well as the Museumfonden and the Louisiana Foundation. This continued support is in fact crucial when it comes to nurturing and advancing the collection and enabling the Louisiana to safeguard its position as a contemporary museum of international renown.
The exhibition presented works by the following artists: El Anatsui, Gunnar Aagaard Andersen, Diane Arbus, Pia Arke, Lutz Bacher, Alvaro Barrington, Pauline Boudry & Renate Lorenz, Elina Brotherus, Cecily Brown, Dora Budor, Andrea Büttner, Daya Cahen, George Condo, Bruce Conner, Alex Da Corte, A K Dolven, Marlene Dumas, Flavia Gandolfo, General Idea, Poul Gernes, Gauri Gill & Rajesh Vangad, Gauri Gill, Nan Goldin, Paul Graham, Rodney Graham, Shara Hughes, Dorothy Iannone, Arthur Jafa, Ann Veronica Janssens, Yu Ji, Rashid Johnson, Asger Jorn, Barbara Kasten, Ragnar Kjartansson, Kiki Kogelnik, Jannis Kounellis, Agnieszka Kurant, Firenze Lai, Zoe Leonard, Candice Lin, Robert Longo, Michel Majerus, Calvin Marcus, Marisol, Paul McCarthy & Mike Kelley, Julie Mehretu, Louise Nevelson, Catherine Opie, Frida Orupabo, Yuri Pattison, Richard Prince, Tal R, Jon Rafman, Pipilotti Rist, Bunny Rogers, Martha Rosler, Susan Rothenberg, Mika Rottenberg & Mahyad Tousi, Ed Ruscha, Dana Schutz, Zineb Sedira, Ana Segovia, Allan Sekula, Ding Shiwei, Amy Sillman, Mladen Stilinović, Superflex, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rosemarie Trockel, Carrie Mae Weems, Issy Wood and Cheng Xinhao.
