Galleri Christoffer Egelund proudly presents Maiken Lindhardt’s first solo exhibition at the gallery: Mirror of dreams. Danish artist Maiken Lindhardt captures a melancholic, dreamy sense of humanity in her paintings which combine abstract, expressive brushstrokes with tactile textures and a nuanced color palette. Experience the exhibition, which consists of entirely new paintings on canvas and paper and ceramic works, from February 21st – March 21st, 2025.

Maiken Lindhardt’s works are a striking harmony of textured, dynamic brush strokes and a sophisticated color palette. These are Paintings with a capital P; you can almost feel the power of the movement with which the artist has applied the thick paint. In Maiken Lindhardt’s works, the painterly surface takes on a life of its own, parallel to that of the subject depicted. Smooth areas are contrasted by coarsely textured passages, and soft gradients harmonize with sharp edges – and all of it testifies to the hectic, creative energy of the artist.

Art whose primary concern is to explore the character of the surface of the painting has its origins in the early decades of the 20th century. After several centuries of naturalistic art focusing on the realistic depiction of the physical world with no trace of the artist’s hand and work, it was time for something new. A major development in art occurred in 1907, when Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque first met and started their artistic collaboration. Together they developed a revolutionary new style, where each object was depicted using flat, geometric color areas, and as if seen from several points of view at once – almost like a paper box unfolded and laid flat on a table. These were the first Cubist works, and they opened up entirely new ways of creating art, paving the way for the many different Abstract art movements that developed over the course of the 20th century. While the different kinds Abstract art varied in their approach to the picture surface, some, like Picasso’s Cubism or the art of Piet Mondrian and Josef Albers, favoring the graphical and geometrical, others, like the Abstract Expressionism of Asger Jorn, Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning exploring the rough, textured surface through dynamic brushwork and drip painting, they all had one thing in common: They viewed the canvas as a two-dimensional surface instead of an illusionary window through which the viewer looked out on an imaginary, but three-dimensional scene.

Maiken Lindhardt has the wild and painterly brush strokes in common with the Abstract Expressionists, but unlike most of them she emphasizes not only the visceral character of the painted surface, but also the emotional qualities of the subject. With their hard-to-define, saddened expression, the sensitively rendered humans of Maiken Lindhardt’s works look back at the viewer. Often dressed in loose, long garments, aprons and headdresses, their clothes are reminiscent of women’s wear of centuries past; however, their physique is not markedly feminine, and thus, they seem to embody a general humanity. Their resigned, dream-like melancholy becomes emblematic of the act of being present – by expressing no extreme emotions, and by boldly facing the viewer, they become a symbol of the importance of earnest presence in the here and now. Like a mirror image of the viewer, their sincerity and calm remind us that if we adopt a little of their attitude, we may just reach a greater level of understanding and harmony. Melancholy as a psychological state has been a recurring subject in art.

The concept of melancholy has its roots in the so-called theory of the humors, a medical theory dating back to Ancient Greece. Here, physician and philosopher Hippocrates was the first to describe the theory of the humors in writing. According to this theory, a person’s character, health and state of mind depend on the balance between the four bodily humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. When they are not equally present within an individual, illness and other negative conditions may arise, and removing excess bodily fluids via acts like bloodletting, would restore balance. According to the theory of the humors, an excess of black bile results in a person with a melancholic temper, i.e., a moody and depressed personality. The theory of the humors continued to be popular throughout the Middle Ages, and the melancholic archetype became a popular subject in art – especially as the embodiment of the artistic genius who broodingly ponders his or her next big idea. Due to their introspective nature, Maiken Lindhardt’ s subjects become contemporary incarnations of the melancholy of artistic genius, searching their soul to find personal truth.

Another characteristic aspect of Maiken Lindhardt’s art is her uniquely sophisticated color palette. Muted, yet warm earth colors give her works an inviting sense of calm – almost like the feeling of walking through a forest in autumn, when the forest floor is covered in leaves of many nuances of brown and red. However, zesty color accents of purple, blue and yellow pierce the elegant earth colors, creating an interesting harmony between the muted and the intense. Characteristically, these color accents are often introduced by means of the full moon, which often accompanies the thoughtful subjects. Rendered in a vibrating contrast hue, it is part of what makes Maiken Lindhardt’s painting surfaces seem so painterly and alive, a delicate balance of the textured and the calm, the elegant and the intense.

Maiken Lindhardt was born in 1994 in Aalborg, Denmark, where she also lives and works. She grew up in an artistic family and drew and painted since she was very young, having ample opportunity to learn from her older creative family members. Since her artistic break-through, her art has been exhibited at several gallery and museum exhibition in Denmark and abroad, including at the Museo Irpino in Italy.