Danish artist Alexander Tovborg (b. 1983) is deeply concerned with frameworks of belief and their stories, protagonists and symbols. For his own part, Tovborg views himself as a self-described “Knight of Faith” who does not ally himself with a single religion. He was baptised and confirmed—as many people are in Denmark—and considered converting to Catholicism. He has edited a Danish Cathedral’s church magazine. He has been exorcised and tried to exorcise others. He has formed his own religion. He even built a church in 2023 at Copenhagen’s Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

Tovborg’s largest museum show to date is being hosted by the Schmidt Hammer Lassen-designed ARoS in Aarhus—best known for its iconic rainbow walkway by Olafur Eliasson. The exhibition is named for The Divine Comedy (around 1308–20) by Dante Alighieri, in which the author travels through Hell, Purgatory and finally, Paradise. The title itself suggests the forces of the sublime and ridiculous that can coexist in the name of religious fervour. For Tovborg, though, The Divine Comedy reveals the chasm between faith and church, the spiritual landscape and the structures of religion. Significantly, Tovborg’s son is named Dante. And just as the literary Dante journeyed to Heaven, Tovborg takes visitors through different realms, from the achingly beautiful to darker, more barbed confrontations.

Rather than starting with Dante, as one might imagine, Tovborg opens his visual sermon with Prometheus—the Titan who defied Zeus and was chained to a rock for eternity. For Tovborg, Prometheus is the ultimate rebel. He went to Georgia, where Prometheus was said to have been bound, collecting holy water for a font featured in one of the first works to greet visitors at ARoS: Untitled (credo quia absurdum) (2015). The title in parentheses, inscribed in gold leaf on the font, translates to “I believe, even though it is absurd”. Speaking of absurdity, the four Prometheus paintings (all from 2015) hanging close by, feature several hot dogs. Tovborg explains that the sounds in the cave reminded him of eating a hot dog. It’s a curious bump to reality after the mythic heights of Prometheus.

The next hero Tovborg engages with is Joan of Arc—the peasant with divine visions who became a military leader and was burned at the stake for being a heretic (still no mention of Dante then). Tovborg casts himself in the role in a performance from 2018 where he clasps a bronze sword, smeared in fake blood and storms furiously around Galleri Nicolai Wallner in Copenhagen, calling his audience to action [Hvem er dit sværd (Who is your sword)]. It’s a remarkable insight into the struggle that exists in Tovborg’s work, belied by its serene geometries and radiant hues.

This tussle reflects not only Tovborg’s personal struggle with faith and his search for meaning as a pious nomad, but also the actual violence within mythic and religious tales and the ways they have been deployed. The video marvellously breaks the spell of his beautiful abstract paintings and reminds visitors that this is also a serious excavation of the mechanics of belief.

Joan of Arc gives way to a vast new painting recently acquired by ARoS—Beatrice (2023)—in which Tovborg finally arrives at The Divine Comedy. As the epitome of divine love, she appears in ethereal tones of pastel, crayon and acrylic, as if the vibrancy of the earthly plane has drained away. Beatrice is the unattainable object of Dante’s desire, unreachable behind this diaphanous surface, and her tessellated figure guides our way through the composition. The soft palette and overwhelming scale of this painting are undoubtedly the high point of the show. Beatrice is shrouded by two other paintings—The Believer (Warm) and The Believer (Cold) (both 2010)—whose strata of windows, storeys and rooftops allude to Dante’s journey. Elsewhere, a group of small graphic works picture the ascent to heaven (Paradise, 2025). A further body of intimate watercolours on paper reflects a decade of Tovborg’s career (The Way of The Sorrow, 2014–24).

Another Italian subject takes shape on the opposing wall to Beatrice with the Bocca Baciata paintings,all from 2014, which were made for a solo show at O—Overgaden in Copenhagen, also from the same year. The series is inhabited by dinosaurs, inspired by a drawing made by Tovborg’s father, who died when the artist was 16. One might see the paintings as a reference to some people’s understanding of dinosaurs as fairy tales, but they are rooted in the loss of a father. Tovborg used to go to church with his dad and when he died, he continued to go alone.

Father figures are demonstrably absent in Tovborg’s rendition of Jesus—the Christian saviour of humanity. Rather than picture Jesus as an adult preacher or a bouncing baby, Tovborg explores the curiously overlooked teenage years with Teenage Jesus (2022). The Son of God, made angsty adolescent, is depicted in a cruciform foreshadowing his death that questions whether he will embrace his fate. 

Tovborg stays with Christian parables in his representation of the Virgin Mary—not with a baby boy, but a little girl in her arms, as depicted in dea madonna med tulipan (sommer) (2021). After Tovborg had his own children, Dante and Dea, the artist was struck by the strength of women, which sparked new appreciation for the nativity. The gorgeous rondel canvas, Sunset Madonna with Bird and Tulip (2022), in warm shades of ochre, yellow, indigo and crimson, speaks to this essential female power. The tulip itself is a symbol of the resurrection. The works featuring Tovborg’s partner Cæcilie as Madonna and their children, often on bed linen, are certainly the most tender in the show.

Tovborg targets the architectures of Christianity with a series of new paintings depicting church exteriors. These buildings are symbols of sanctuary, but also power. Tovborg questions who is permitted to enter these spaces. Or in the case of Noah’s Ark, who is saved. In the vast hallway of ARoS, visitors will find a bouncy castle version of the Ark, which Tovborg toured Denmark with in 2016. The hallway is also peppered with a giant frieze of apples in a slightly on the nose nod to biblical temptation. Elsewhere, Tovborg makes literal use of the church’s furnishings for several paintings with wood from old pews.

Tovborg’s voyage through tales of myth, religion and history does not reach some celestial conclusion as Dante’s does. The exhibition finishes with questions about the church’s role in belief, but it is the end of the stanza, not the end of the story.

‘Alexander Tovborg – Divine Comedy’ is on view from May 24, 2025 - January 4, 2026, at ARoS Art Museum, Aarhus.