Macabre Masterpieces

Artist list

Manuel Sjødahl Andersen, Oliver Baiker, Bodil Binner, Claus Bjerring, Gitte Bjørn, Karin Carstens, Wallace Chan, Lund Copenhagen, Lydia Courteille, Dauf & Pede, Louis Glick & Company De Beers, Louise Degn, Ulli Ehlers, Marco Evaristti, Theo Fenell, Christian Hass, Malene Helweg-Larsen, Hemmerle, Eero Hintsanen, Otto Jakob, Jytte Kløve, Therese Krogh, Rikke Lunnemann, Alexander Macrae, Jónas Breki Magnússon, Mette Saabye, Igor Mitoraj, Gerda Monies, Birgitte Munch, Rebekka Notkin, Nanna Obel, Mette Rosgaard, Kristina Rossing, Allan Schaff, Zarah Voigt, Stephen Webster, Michael Weihe, Hanna Beate Maria Winklenddt-Jensen

International jewellery exhibition illuminates death.
With 88 pieces of jewellery, art objects and strange objects that stretch from the year 1300 BC to the year 2021 AC, the exhibition illuminates the cultural history of death.

The exhibition Macabre Masterpieces is an aesthetic introduction to the cultural history of Death, viewed in the context of jewellery and precious artefacts. They were worn in death and accompanied corpses to the grave. Mourning jewellery was used to commemorate the deceased and symbolized the hope of resurrection. Together, the five themes of the exhibition – Resulting in Death; Of the Organic; At the Grave; In Memoriam; and Forever – constitute the cultural history of death.

Macabre Masterpieces challenges and comments on the various traditions of death, featuring new, original works created by some of the finest gold and silversmiths in Denmark. These Danish works are presented alongside both foreign and older works, highlighting interaction and dialogue over time. The topic may seem disturbing, but hopefully, the beauty and craftsmanship of the works will also be thought-provoking. The jewellery and objects reflect different views on, and approaches to death, the rituals that surround it and thoughts we may harbour about the afterlife. The exhibition respects both the dead and Death.

The exhibition is a collaboration between Museum Sønderjylland, jewellery writer Nina Hald, who is the curator, and jeweller Bodil Binner.

Open daily 10 am – 5 pm.