Malergården, Artist residence and museum in Plejerup, Denmark
Malergården is an early modernist structure built from wood and stone with spacious artist studios and living quarters established in 1934. The complex includes agricultural buildings and a garden sloping toward Isefjorden, demonstrating the integration of artistic workspace and farm operations.
The site was founded in 1934 when the Swane family relocated from Copenhagen to create a combined artistic and agricultural environment. This move reflected a broader 1930s trend of merging modernist design with rural ideals.
The space displays works by Sigurd Swane ranging from landscape paintings to flower studies, showing how family life and artistic practice were intertwined in this rural setting. The rooms themselves reveal how people here chose to blend art-making with countryside living.
The property sits on a slope with views across the Isefjorden, and pathways through the garden gradually lead visitors upward to the main house. Plan to spend time in both the interior spaces and outdoors, as the grounds themselves form an essential part of the experience.
The family built one of Denmark's first DIY motorhomes by mounting a wooden cabin onto an old Bedford truck for their European travels. This makeshift mobile studio reveals their unconventional thinking about artistic freedom and how to live on the move.
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