Painting by H.M. Queen Margrethe II Coming up for Auction

A painting by the Danish Queen, H.M. Queen Margrethe, is set to go under the hammer at Bruun Rasmussen – Part of the Bonhams Network in March. Works by the queen have featured in a number of exhibitions, both in Denmark and abroad, but it’s not every day that the opportunity arises to acquire one of them. The royal work of art is estimated at DKK 75,000–100,000.

In March, you have the opportunity to acquire a very special – and not least royal – work of art, when a painting by none other than H.M. Queen Margrethe is coming up for auction at Bruun Rasmussen.

Queen Margrethe’s artistic work has long been known to the public, and since the 1980s, many of Her Majesty’s works have been exhibited at a long list of exhibitions in Denmark, including at ARoS, ARKEN and Brandts Klædefabrik, as well as abroad. Niels Boe-Hauggaard, Bruun Rasmussen’s specialist and head of the department of modern art, explains that it is, however, extremely rare to see the queen’s paintings up for sale.

“We are very much looking forward to offering this work by H.M. Queen Margrethe II, which testifies to her immense passion for and prolificacy within art and creative work. Her great activity in the field has long been known to the public, but it is extremely rare for us to see her works at auction,” says Niels Boe-Hauggaard.

A Personal Gift for the Court Marshal

The painting up for auction is from 1988. It was a personal gift from H.M. Queen Margrethe to her then Court Marshal, Hans Sølvhøj (1919–1989), and it has been in the ownership of his family ever since.

“The work by HM Queen Margrethe II is from the year she began to exhibit officially. Her list of exhibitions is impressively long, but the works rarely come up for sale. So, there are only a few paintings, such as this one, which one has the opportunity to acquire, because they come directly from people who have had a close relationship with the queen,” says Niels Boe-Hauggaard.

According to Niels Boe-Hauggaard, this is a characteristic painting, executed in acrylic on canvas, with a motif arising from impressions of nature depicted as a poetic abstraction.

“The story of H.M. Queen Margrethe II and her oeuvre unfolds in a broad spectrum of areas, including the visual arts, scenography, découpage and costume design. The queen found her inspiration for the painting up for auction in the natural world, expressing it in a lyrical idiom. It is a highly personal artistic universe,” Niels Boe-Hauggaard assesses.

Love of Art

H.M. Queen Margrethe II has been fascinated by creative work since her childhood – an interest she has carried with her into her adult life. The queen’s artistic work became known to the public after Her Majesty designed the annual Christmas seal in 1970 and, at the end of the 1970s, produced prototypes of the illustrations for Tolkien’s trilogy The Lord of The Rings under a pseudonym.

According to the website of the Royal Family, Queen Margrethe has been constantly active in a wide variety of artistic areas such as painting and watercolours, découpage, embroidery, church textiles and the design of scenography and costumes for ballets and films, among other things.

The painting by H.M. Queen Margrethe II will feature at Bruun Rasmussen’s Live Auction at the beginning of March at Nørgaardsvej 3 in Lyngby. It is estimated at DKK 75,000–100,000.