Ursula Reuter Christiansen's 'Rose Thorn' exhibition at Von Bartha Copenhagen explores Sleeping Beauty themes

German-Danish artist Ursula Reuter Christiansen presents 'Rose Thorn' at Von Bartha in Copenhagen's Carlsberg City District, running from 4 November to 22 December. The exhibition features eight paintings created over a 40-year period alongside ceramic sculptures and painted rose branches installed in the gallery windows. While forest motifs dominate five paintings, the show centers on reinterpretations of Sleeping Beauty, with the protagonist absent yet thematically pervasive. Works like 'Sleeping Beauty' (2018) depict cathedral-like architecture overgrown with foliage, while 'Die Träne' (2023) and 'Sie will mich zurückhalten' (1983) feature solitary figures in thickets and chaotic darkness. The artist explicitly excludes princes and romantic salvation in accompanying text, emphasizing instead painting as an act of liberation through decades of underrecognition. Though this compact exhibition by the octogenarian artist represents a recent breakthrough recognition, it offers a prettier aesthetic compared to her earlier feminist work like 1971's 'The Executioner'. The show transforms traditionally feminine imagery of roses, dusks and fairy tales into confident artistic statements rather than passive acceptance of gendered expectations.