Mie Olise Kjærgaard

Born in 1974 in Mors, Denmark, | Lives and works in Copenhagen and New York.

Mie Olise Kjærgaard works at the expressive edge of painting, merging traditionally masculine codes of large-scale, energetic figuration with a bold, contemporary female gaze. Her vibrant canvases depict powerful women — riding mythical beasts, wielding tennis rackets like weapons, and embracing motherhood as a force of agency and identity.

Kjærgaard’s work explores the many dimensions of womanhood: freedom, strength, humor, and collectivity. Her figures exist simultaneously in the now and in a timeless space intrinsic to painting. In recent works, she especially reimagines motherhood through a poetic yet forceful visual language, offering an empowered and imaginative narrative far beyond the traditional Madonna archetype.

Mie Olise Kjærgaard's paintings have been exhibited internationally at venues such as Trapholt Museum of Art and Design in Denmark, Foundry Seoul in Korea, Journal Gallery in New York, and Barbara Davis Gallery in Houston. Her work is included in major collections such as the Museum of Fine Art Houston, the Saatchi Collection, the Karpidas Collection, and the New Carlsberg Foundation.