The exhibition Michael Kvium – Shadow Theatre at Trapholt in Kolding
Step into a visual theatre where the darker sides of humanity and the absurdities of our time take center stage. Michael Kvium – Shadow Theatre brings together, for the first time, the complete series of 36 paintings created between 2008 and 2025 – a powerful and satirical tableau of life’s grotesque and tragicomic dimensions.
Visit Trapholt – Museum of Modern Art, Craft and Design – and experience the exhibition Michael Kvium – Shadow Theatre: a comprehensive and thought-provoking presentation of the darker sides of human nature and the absurdities of contemporary life.
The Danish artist Michael Kvium is known for his striking and provocative imagery, often exploring uncomfortable truths about society and the human condition. For the first and only time, this exhibition brings together his complete Shadow Theatre series, created over 17 years – from 2008 to 2025.
Michael Kvium – Shadow Theatre features 36 figurative paintings, each portraying a character performing in the “theatre of life” – grotesque, tragicomic, and theatrical. The works confront what we often try to hide: vanity, intolerance, the hunger for power, and existential fragility. Together, the paintings form a powerful tableau, where each image acts as both a visual stage and a symbolic diagnosis of our time.