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Inauguration of the exhibition “Waking Nations. The Golden Age of Danish Painting, thanked the National Gallery of Danish Art for the best paintings by Danish painters, and the Danish Cultural Institute for its “role in facilitating contacts between Danish and Lithuanian museums, mobilizing the necessary funds for the exhibition to appear here in Vilnius. “
“The cultural dialogue between the two countries has been extremely strong over the past 30 years. The Danish Cultural Institute played a key role at the beginning of Lithuania’s aspiration for independence (…) and acted as a forerunner of bilateral relations.” said the wife of the heir to the Danish throne.
“We are very happy to have such a solid foundation from which we can take on new goals and overcome challenges together in the years to come,” said the guest.
According to her, the Danish traveler and ethnologist Age Meyer Benedictsen visited Lithuania at the end of the 19th century, the year of the national revival, and in his book Lithuania. The Bundanti Nation ”widely introduced Lithuania to the Danish public and was generally“ one of the first foreigners to describe Lithuania in detail ”, as well as a“ strong supporter of Lithuania as an independent state ”with a place in the international community.
According to the crown princess, the title of the exhibition is also a kind of reference to the search for Danish national identity in the late 19th century, embroiled in military defeats and economic challenges that forced Danes to question common values and these themes. are still relevant today.
Lithuanian First Lady Diana Nausėdienė, who opened the exhibition and the historians’ debate, said it would provide interesting insights into the analogies between the development of art in the late 18th and 19th centuries in Denmark and cultural phenomena a century later. . .and activities.
“It was the culture that reflected the development and political maturation of the modern Lithuanian nation and led to the restoration of our country’s independence in 1918,” said D. Nausėdienė.
According to her, the search for meaning takes on special importance in times of certain shocks or moments of inflection in the development of society; It is then that fundamental questions about the destiny of a person, communities, nations or states and their development prospects become relevant.
“Looking for answers in the qualitative parallels of ‘soft power’, we realize that it is not so soft, sometimes hard and always invincible, as long as we look for the essence and connections of cultures. And yet it is always inspiring (…). I hope that this event will become not only a visual, but also an intellectual ideological encounter, exploring much broader universal themes about the relationship between art and culture and history, present and future, and providing impressive wings for cultural thought. common. ”Said D. Nausėdienė.
Culture Minister Simonas Kairys said that both Denmark and Lithuania have experienced how much effort is needed to preserve national identity, and that this problem “has never been solved and changes with society”, and it is the artists who can best reveal This process. .
“So I think the exhibition works a bit like a therapy session: it shows who we are and where we are from, what affects us and what makes us Lithuanian or Danish,” said the minister.
Princess Maria’s visit is dedicated to the centenary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and Denmark. On Thursday, a representative of the Danish royal family also met with President Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte and government representatives, Seimas President Viktorija Čmilyte-Nielsen, the Danish diaspora, and visited Vilnius University and the Antakalnis cemetery. On Friday he will open a seminar dedicated to the centenary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, he will meet with the leadership of the Lithuanian National Olympic Committee and Danish soldiers.
Exhibition “Nations in vigil. The “golden age” of Danish painting will take place at the Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum, which presents more than 40 Danish masterpieces from the “golden age”. The exhibition will remain open until November 7.
