Queer Perspectives on the Collection

The word queer comes from English and originally meant ‘strange’ or ‘unusual’.

Once used as a derogatory term for homosexual people, queer has since taken on a much broader meaning. It can describe both an identity and a way of challenging prevailing ideas and norms surrounding gender and sexuality. It is also used as an umbrella term by people whose gender, sexuality or identity falls outside conventional social norms. This guided tour introduces the group to the museum’s collection by highlighting unexpected and challenging aspects of works by artists associated with the Modern Breakthrough whom we might today describe as queer: Kristian Zahrtmann, Bertha Wegmann, Marie Luplau and Emilie Mundt.

We also take a broader look at the collection through a queer lens, paying particular attention to the unconventional, the different and the norm-challenging.