Artwork on the Blue Water Silo - Esbjerg’s New Landmark

Canadian artist Emmanuel "Young" Jarus has transformed the former grain silo into an impressive work of art covering around 2,300 m².

The motif depicts a small rowboat with two people floating above a deep-blue sea, where currents and movement create a vivid story about the sea – an element that connects people and places around the world.

The silo was built in 1965 and has been a familiar landmark at the Port of Esbjerg for decades. With the artwork, the building has been given new life and has become an experience in itself – a place where the port’s history meets international street art.

The artwork was created with the ambition of bringing art into the urban space, where everyone can experience it.

The Blue Water Silo can be seen from several of Esbjerg’s approach roads and from large parts of the harbour.
It is an ideal stop on a tour of Esbjerg, where art, the harbour environment and stories of the sea come together.

Background / Blue Water Silo:

As part of Gadens Museum, Canadian artist Emmanuel Young Jarus was selected following a sketch competition to create the complete decoration of Blue Water’s distinctive silo at the harbour.

He not only had to paint an impressive 2,300 m². He also faced a number of challenges, one of which was to incorporate a work from Esbjerg Art Museum’s collection. Following dialogue with the parties involved, the choice fell on Tomas Saraceno’s photographic work, Endless Big.

On several levels, Saraceno explores humanity’s connectedness with the world around us. As a small piece in the great infinity, the person in Endless Big is placed precisely where sky, land and sea meet and merge, so that the small individual is reflected in something far greater than themselves.

As a thematic, atmospheric and artistic reference, this work forms an underlying resonance for Esbjerg’s new landmark. At the same time, it represents a different way of presenting a collection, in which art’s rich potential for meaning helps shape our shared public space and connects the museum with the city in new ways.

Facts / Gadens Museum:
In addition to the decoration of the Blue Water Silo, an international street art festival was organised by Gadens Museum in connection with Esbjerg Festival Week 2026.

Gadens Museum works for street art and community in Esbjerg. It has international ambitions, while also being a movement driven by local networks and new collaborations, breaking down established divides between popular culture and so-called high culture, between private and public stakeholders, and between established businesses and the city’s grassroots.

Gadens Museum is founded by Galleri Grisk and Esbjerg Art Museum.