Plant fever: The World on the Windowsill
The exhibition focuses on the houseplant. Today, houseplants are a fully integrated part of interior design in Denmark and can be found in almost every home. In the 19th century, however, the houseplant was a new phenomenon closely connected to the expansion of global trade, which made it possible to import exotic and foreign plants capable of thriving indoors throughout the year. Over the course of the 19th century, houseplants gradually became a common feature of domestic interiors and consequently also appeared in artistic depictions of the home. The hidden stories of these plants and their global origins represent an unexplored perspective in Danish art history, which the exhibition seeks to unfold.
The plants were transported across great distances as part of the massive botanical transfers that accelerated during the 17th century — movements that transformed the flora and fauna of several continents. While many of these plants were endangered in their native habitats, they flourished abundantly in European living rooms. In this way, the plants brought Europe’s colonial history into private homes. At the same time, relationships between people and plants developed that opened — and continue to open — pathways toward a more caring, diverse, and historically conscious relationship with nature.
The exhibition features works from the two exhibitions previously shown at Ordrupgaard and Den Hirschsprungske Samling by artists such as Anna Ancher, Martinus Rørbye, Lauritz Tuxen, Catherine Svendsen-Engel, Marie Henriques, and L.A. Ring, presented in dialogue with selected works from Faaborg Museum’s own collection by artists including Anna Syberg, Alhed Larsen, and Fritz Syberg.
The exhibition is a third and independent version of Plant Fever, previously shown simultaneously at Den Hirschsprungske Samling and Ordrupgaard as part of the research project Hidden Plant Histories at Aarhus University.
