Kirsten Ortwed, Still Apple, 2012 installed as part of CHART in Tivoli 2025
Courtesy of the artist, palace enterprise and CHART in Tivoli
Audio Guide
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About The Works
Still Apple, 2012
Danish artist Kirsten Ortwed (b. 1948) plays with art historical tradition in her sculpture Still Apple—an oversized bronze apple reduced to its core. This remnant refers to the classic still life, a genre where carefully composed arrangements of fruit symbolised abundance, beauty, and the passage of time. By focusing on what’s typically discarded—the eaten apple—Ortwed humorously inverts expectations. The use of bronze, a material often associated with heroic sculpture, further emphasises the contrast: the apple core, ephemeral and mundane, is elevated to an object of permanence and reverence. In doing so, Still Apple nods to the vanitas tradition while subverting it, turning decay into something long-lasting and oddly dignified.
Kirsten Ortwed, Still Apple, 2012 installed as part of CHART in Tivoli 2025
Courtesy of the artist, palace enterprise and CHART in Tivoli
Kirsten Ortwed, Still Apple, 2012 installed as part of CHART in Tivoli 2025
Courtesy of the artist, palace enterprise and CHART in Tivoli
Portrait of Kirsten Ortwed
Courtesy of the artist and palace enterprise. Photo by Michella Bredal
About The Artist
Kirsten Ortwed's (b. 1948; DK) painting, object art and sculpture originated in the early ‘70s when she actively participated in the various post-minimalist and conceptualist movements. Her work creates a direct interaction with its surrounding space, often without the need for pedestals or frames. The combination and correlation between form and material is essential to Ortwed's artistic practice, just as she examines the relationship between form and space, with special attention to process and transformation.
Ortwed’s work is included in institutional collections, e.g. the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Humlebæk), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Moderna Museet (Stockholm), KIASMA Museum for Contemporary Art (Helsinki), Nasjonalmuseet - Museum of Contemporary Art (Oslo), Morgan Library & Museum (New York), ARKEN - Museum for Contemporary Art (Ishøj), Horsens Kunstmuseum, KUNSTEN (Aalborg), SMK - National Gallery of Denmark, Neue Pinakothek Graphische Sammlung (Munich). Museé des Beaux-Arts de Nantes (Nantes). Ortwed has received numerous prizes and awards, amongst others the Eckersberg Medaillen (1995l), Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl-Nielsen’s Award of Honour (1998), and Thorvaldsen Medaillen (2002). In 1997, Kirsten Ortwed represented Denmark at the 47th Venice Biennale.
Kirsten Ortwed is represented by palace enterprise.
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