Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture, Søren Behncke at House of Finn Juhl

V1 Gallery and House of Finn Juhl are pleased to present 

Know Your Lines and Don't Bump Into the Furniture
A solo exhibition by Søren Behncke 
House of Finn Juhl Gothersgade 9, Copenhagen, Denmark

April 8 – May 15, 2026

In Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture, Søren Behncke (Danish, b. 1967) sets out to explore the network of artists, craftspeople, and creatives who inspired and collaborated with the Danish architect and designer Finn Juhl.

Through a series of intimate portraits installed in the House of Finn Juhl we are introduced to a wonderfully eclectic group that includes Sigurjón Ólafsson, Anna and Erik Thommesen, Vilhelm Lundstrøm, Niels Vodder, and Hanne Wilhelm Hansen. For many years, Behncke has circled the pioneering organic modernist Finn Juhl's oeuvre, painting several tableaus that incorporate details from Juhl's house in Ordrup, now part of the Ordrupgaard Museum just north of Copenhagen. 

The new paintings combine Behncke's signature new realism with the visual deconstruction and image distillation he has explored over the past decade. Juhl, who was self-taught, brought a more expressive and humanistic approach to modernism, drawing on organic shapes inspired by art, sculpture, and the human body. For the exhibition, Behncke has created a suite of sculptures installed in dialogue with Juhl's furniture, playfully engaging the two artists' shared love for the language of sculpture. 

Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture continues Behncke's in-depth exploration of artistic practices, relationships and the development of visual strategies, that has also included dialogue exhibitions with Henry Heerup, Asger Jorn, Vincent van Gogh, and Franciska Clausen. Behncke has previously presented solo exhibitions at The Heerup Museum, Denmark (2021), Museum Jorn, Denmark (2019), The Art Museum Brundlund Slot, Denmark (2018), and ARoS, Denmark (2008), which has built an expansive collection of his work over the past 18 years, most recently acquiring the painting L'Atelier De Mondrian.  

Major group exhibitions include presentations at Willumsens Museum, Denmark (2017), Arken Museum of Contemporary Art, Denmark (2015), and MAPS Museum of Art in Public Spaces, Denmark (2013). Behncke has travelled widely across Europe, making limited-edition lithographic prints on-site with the Mobile Printing Press in Albissola, Arles, Vienna, Paris, Madrid, Helsinki, Venice, Reykjavik, and Warsaw. His temporary public sculptures and actions have appeared in New York, Copenhagen, Venice, Paris, and along Danish highways. In 2025, the New Carlsberg Foundation acquired several paintings by Behncke for the Danish Embassy in Paris.  

Know your lines and don't bump into the furniture is a collaborative effort between V1 Gallery and House of Finn Juhl.

Refreshments are kindly provided by Mikkeller.