The history of the Heerup Museum
In 1995, when Rødovre Municipality received a major donation of Heerup’s works and personal items from the artist’s widow, Marion Heerup, it became clear that a museum could not be established in what had once been Heerup’s place of work and garden. Instead, attempts were made to find a place in Rødovre firmly anchored in the local community; the community centre Rødovregaard proved to be the perfect choice.
The new museum for Henry Heerup, an artist rooted locally, but known internationally, was designed by Bernd Kjelland, architect MAA. The area totals 425 sq. m. The building has 200 sq. m of gallery space, an entrance area including a museum shop, toilets, and basement storage totalling 150 sq. m. The architect Bernd Kjelland paid particular attention to the light. Daylight in the gallery space enters the building via skylights in the upper part of the roof. Northern light usually has a cool quality whereas southern light exudes warmth. The skylights contain longitudinal movable louvres measuring about 4 metres. In this way, it is possible to mix cool and warm light.
Rødovregaard is the last farm left in what remains of the old village of Rødovre. The farm belonged to the same family for almost 200 years. Since 1770, four generations of the Sørensen family owned this farm whose land stretched from Roskildevej in the south to the present-day Rødovre Parkvej to the north. In 1967, Rødovre Municipality bought the farm, took over the right of use in 1976, had the building renovated, and established a community centre. Now, Rødovregaard is a bustling community centre where local associations can hire premises for cultural events free of charge.
On 1 May 2000, the new museum for the popular artist Henry Heerup was inaugurated in Rødovre. However, the museum was soon closed again due to unforeseen humidity problems, which is why the Heerup Museum figures in various quizzes as the museum that opened and closed on the same day! When the museum reopened on 20 January 2001, some 4000 visitors queued during one weekend to experience the opening exhibition ‘The Heerup Museum – Painting, Prints, Sculpture’.