Art Museum Brandts

From Textile Mill to Cultural Powerhouse

Art Museum Brandts occupies the red-brick buildings of the former Brandts Klædefabrik, once a humming textile factory supplying fabrics and uniforms. Today the industrial skeleton remains visible in iron columns, high ceilings and worn floors, giving the museum a raw, characterful backdrop that contrasts with the refined works on the walls. The surrounding quarter has grown into a compact cultural district, with cobbled passages, small courtyards and an urban buzz that makes the museum feel firmly woven into city life. Inside, the sense of scale is striking. Five stacked levels create a vertical journey through art and visual culture, while long window bands frame glimpses of Odense’s rooftops and church towers. Moving between floors, you are rarely allowed to forget that this is both a historic building and a thoroughly contemporary museum, where light, space and industrial details are part of the experience.

Collections Spanning Centuries of Danish Art

Brandts’ core collection traces roughly 250 years of Danish art, from 18th- and 19th-century portraiture and landscape painting to modernist experiments and contemporary canvases. Works by major Danish names often appear in the collection displays, offering a visual line from the age of powdered wigs and maritime trade to today’s conceptual and installation-based practices. Rather than freezing the collection in a single permanent hang, the museum regularly re-curates its holdings into themed presentations. One visit might highlight changes in Danish landscape painting, another the evolution of portraiture or the dialogue between painting and photography. This constant rethinking encourages you to look again at familiar works and to see Danish art history as an evolving conversation rather than a closed chapter.

Photography, Film and Visual Culture

Brandts has deep roots in photographic art and visual media, building on Odense’s long-running museum of photographic art and a strong tradition of image-based exhibitions. Throughout the building you may encounter classic black-and-white series, experimental art photography, moving-image installations or film-based works that play with sound, rhythm and narrative. Large-scale special exhibitions often focus on photography, illustration or other forms of visual culture, for example music imagery, graphic storytelling or crossovers between art and popular media. Together these shows broaden the idea of what an art museum can hold, placing lens-based works and visual narratives on an equal footing with painting and sculpture.

A Place Where Children Lead the Way

One of Brandts’ signatures is its long-running sensory exhibition for families. Designed at children’s height and with hands-on elements, this part of the museum turns looking at art into an active, playful experience. Textures, colours, sound and light are used to invite touch, movement and curiosity, so that younger visitors draw adults into the works rather than the other way round. Workshops and creative spaces extend this philosophy, providing materials and prompts for drawing, collage or simple building projects inspired by current exhibitions. The result is a museum that treats children as genuine art audiences, making Brandts a particularly strong choice for families seeking culture that feels inclusive rather than formal.

Café Life, Design Finds and City Views

At street level, the Brandts Art Café looks out onto the intimate Amfipladsen, a small amphitheatre-like square where locals linger over coffee. Inside, sculptures, a large mural and shifting artworks make the café feel like an extension of the galleries. Seasonal cakes, salads, sandwiches and carefully chosen drinks create an easy pause between exhibitions, and the big windows keep you connected to the city outside. Next to the café, the museum shop leans into Danish design culture with books, posters, crafts and smaller design objects. It is an appealing stop even if you are not a dedicated souvenir hunter, and access to both shop and café is free. Together they underline Brandts’ role not only as an exhibition space, but as a relaxed meeting point in central Odense.

Green Initiatives and Slow Art Time

Art Museum Brandts holds a Green Attraction environmental certification, signalling concrete efforts around energy use, waste sorting, purchasing policies and communication of sustainable practices. Visitors encounter subtle reminders to recycle, reduce waste and think about the footprint of cultural travel, without distracting from the artworks themselves. The building’s spacious rooms and layered programme invite an unhurried visit. Many guests choose to spend several hours here, lingering in front of individual works, taking in a film piece from beginning to end, or returning to a favourite gallery after a break in the café. Whether you drop in for a snapshot of Danish art or dedicate a large portion of your day, Brandts is designed to make time with art feel generous and open-ended.