Mermaids





The Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue) is perhaps the most iconic symbol of Copenhagen, in spite of the fact that she is surprisingly small (4 feet tall) and unassuming. She was sculpted by Edvard Eriksen in 1913, commissioned by Carl Jacobsen, Danish beer company magnate, after he fell in love after seeing a ballet based on the Little Mermaid story.  The actress who played her on stage refused to pose nude but was willing to have her face on the statue; her face was used together with the sculptor's wife's body.

The statue was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's famous fairytale about a mermaid who gives up everything to be united with a young, handsome prince on land.  Of course, unlike the Disney version, the story has a sad ending. Every morning and evening she swims to the surface from the bottom of the sea and, perched on her rock in the water, she stares longingly towards the shore hoping to catch a glimpse of her beloved prince.  

She may be small but she certainly gets lots of visitors!

I would like to suggest that there are more interesting mermaids to be seen in Copenhagen!

One of them is in the Danish National Gallery (SMK), created by Anna Marie Carl-Nielsen in 1921. To me, it seems appropriate that she has the look of a fish out of water.





A copy of it was installed in 2009 by the water near the Royal Library:

Becca and I found another mermaid in SMK yesterday, called Siren with a Raised Arm.  This one was sculpted by Henri Laurens in 1938:

But probably my favorite is the Genetically Modified Mermaid by Danish professor Bjørn Nørgaard. He sculpted her in 2006, as part of a group of sculptures called "The Genetically Modified Paradise"; the grouping includes Madonna, Jesus, Adam, Eve, Maria Magdalena, and The Pregnant Man. According to the sculptor, they are a "provocative and humoristic view of postmodern society", whatever that means. But, really, isn't she sweet?

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