The author Isak Dinesen, or Karen Blixen, is probably best known for her autobiographical book Out of Africa which was made into a film and remains her most popular work. Because of her strong association with Africa, few realise that she spent most of her life, and wrote all of her books, in Denmark at the family estate of Rungstedlund located on the northern coast of Zealand, across from Sweden.
Rungstedlund is now a museum dedicated to Karen Blixen, one of Denmark’s most famous and loved literary figures.
The Life of Karen Blixen, or Isak Dinesen the Storyteller
Karen Blixen was born at Rungstedlund in 1885 to a well established upper-middle class family. Artistically gifted, she studied art in Copenhagen and Paris, before marrying her distant cousin, the Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke in 1913. The couple moved to Kenya the following year to try their luck at running a coffee farm there. Karen Blixen was to spend the next 17 years in Kenya, managing the farm and living the life of an expatriate.
Unfortunately, the marriage was not to last. Bror was a womaniser and the couple separated after 8 years of marriage, but not before he infected Karen with syphilis. Bror continued to live in Africa, conducting safaris and living with his mistress while Karen took over the running of the coffee farm. During this time, she had an intense love affair with the Englishman, Denys Finch-Hatton, who was tragically killed in an airplane crash in 1931. In the end, the coffee farm proved not to be a success and when she finally ran out of money, Karen Blixen returned home to Rungstedlund, where she would spend the rest of her life.
It was at Rungstedlund that Karen Blixen first began writing her tales under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen. Her first book, Seven Gothic Tales, was published in 1934 in the United States. A translation into Danish followed the next year. Karen Blixen nearly always wrote in English before translating her works into her native language. Over the years, she wrote seven books in total, publishing Out of Africa in 1937. Although she was often ill with the effects of the syphilis she acquired during her marriage, Karen Blixen continued to write, publishing her last book, Shadows on the Grass, a follow-up to Out of Africa, just two years before her death in 1962.
Although she is today best known for her books about her life in Africa, Karen Blixen considered herself to be primarily a storyteller, a weaver of fantastic tales. Today she is a well known literary figure, not just in Denmark, but around the world.
The Karen Blixen Museum at Rungstedlund
Karen Blixen’s family home, Rungstedlund, was purchased by her father, Wilhelm Dinesen, in 1879. The current house, which dates from the early 1800s, was formerly an inn. Rungstedlund is located near the attractive town of Rungsted, along the picturesque coastal road that stretches from Copenhagen in the south to Helsingør in the north. The property, including a garden and bird sanctuary, is owned by the Rungstedlund Foundation, which was set up in 1958 by Karen Blixen. It was transformed into a museum in 1991.
The west wing of the building, originally a coach house and stables, has been renovated to include an exhibition area, library, shop and cafe. Here there are old family photographs and original manuscripts on display, as well as other items owned by Karen Blixen.
The north wing consists of rooms which have been preserved from the time Karen Blixen lived there. Along with a dining room, parlour and study, this part of the building houses a small gallery where many of Karen Blixen’s original paintings are on display. Some were painted while she was an art student and others date from her time in Africa, where she painted some of the natives who lived and worked around her farm.
In Karen Blixen’s study, which faces the sea, many of the artefacts she collected while she was in Africa are on display. It was in this room that she wrote her tales upon her return to Denmark. In 2004, the museum was renovated and now includes two new exhibition areas, a bird room and a film room. The garden surrounding the house is also open to the public. Karen Blixen was buried at Rungstedlund and her grave stands in the garden, surrounded by trees and flowers.
Visiting the Karen Blixen Museum
The Karen Blixen Museum is open daily from 1 May to 30 September from 10am to 5pm and closed on Mondays. From 1 October to 30 April, the museum is open Wednesday to Friday from 1 to 4pm and weekends from 11am to 4pm. Admission for adults is 50 kroner and free to children under 14.
Sources
Thurman, Judith, 1982, Isak Dinesen. The Life of a Storyteller
Beth MacMillan - Beth MacMillan fulfilled her dream of living and traveling in Europe when she, her husband and their two dogs moved to Denmark in 2001 for ...
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