Kunst på bordet at Brandts | The Phoebus Foundation
10/10/2026 - 22/08/2027
Order tickets

In Odense, Denmark, Kunstmuseum Brandts turns its attention to still life with Kunst på bordet! (Art on the Table!), an exhibition spanning four centuries of art. From seventeenth-century displays of abundance and vanitas symbolism to modern and contemporary interpretations, the exhibition explores how flowers, fruit, tableware and everyday objects can speak about wealth, taste, mortality and the things we choose to surround ourselves with.

Painting by Frans Snijders showing a lavish fruit basket on a red tablecloth, surrounded by grapes, fruit, birds and a monkey.

Four works from The Phoebus Foundation collection are included in the exhibition. Catharina Ykens’ Still Life with Flowers and Insects captures the refinement of flower painting, where colour and close observation go hand in hand. Frans Snijders brings abundance almost within reach in Still Life with a Fruit Basket, with a lavish display of fruit, grapes and animals lending the composition a vivid sense of movement. Two works by Pieter Claesz. reveal a quieter side of the genre: Still Life with a Glass of Wine, Fruits, Bread and Pastries from 1639 plays with light, texture and restraint, while Vanitas Still Life in Monochrome Tones reflects on the fleeting nature of life through skulls, a candle and an hourglass.

Painting by Catharina Ykens showing a sumptuous flower still life in vases and baskets, with fruit and small insects against a dark background.
Catharina Ykens, Still Life with Flowers and Insects, c.1660

Kunst på bordet! (Art on the Table!) runs from 10 October 2026 to 22 August 2027 at Kunstmuseum Brandts in Odense. More information and tickets via brandts.dk.

Pieter Claesz., Still Life with a Glass of Wine, Fruit, Bread and Pastries, 1639
Painting by Pieter Claesz. showing two skulls, a burnt-down candle and an hourglass in muted brown tones as symbols of mortality and transience.
Pieter Claesz., Vanitas Still Life in Monochrome Tones, c.1640–1650