
4.1.-16.12.2022
ASGER JORN & HIGHLIGHTS
Permanent exhibition
4.1.-16.12.2022
Permanent exhibition
The Danish painter, printmaker, ceramicist, and writer Asger Jorn (1914–1973) ranks among Scandinavia’s most influential and internationally renowned artists
After his father’s death in 1929, Jorn, his mother and siblings moved from Western Jutland to Silkeborg where he trained as a teacher. Jorn’s interest in art was kindled in earnest in the early 1930s when he met the painter Martin Kaalund-Jørgensen, who encouraged him to paint. In 1936, Jorn travelled to Paris where he became a pupil of the artist Fernand Léger. This was the start of his international career and his breakthrough finally came in 1958 in connection with a presentation at the World Exhibition in Brussels.
All through his artistic career, Jorn also purchased art which he believed to represent the most significant aspects of international contemporary art. Between 1953 and 1973, Jorn gifted around 5500 works by some 140 different artists to the city of Silkeborg, including several of his own major works. Placing an international art collection in central Jutland, far removed from the art metropoles of Paris and Copenhagen, Asger Jorn wanted to launch his personal narrative about the development of art and to show which aspects of modern art he considered important. Over and above that, he wanted to make art accessible to a broad audience.
The exhibition shows highlights from the museum collection. From the 1920s onwards, it runs chronologically and presents famous international movements within art such as CoBrA and Situationist International, both co-founded by Jorn. Thus, the exhibition provides a unique glimpse of Jorn’s artistic development, his life and work, his times, his artistic network, and sources of inspiration.
Asger Jorn
Sådan var du (Tu etais tel), 1956
Asger Jorn
Mater profana (Profan moder), 1960
Asger Jorn
Månehunden, 1953
Asger Jorn
Nattefesten, 1945
Asger Jorn
Aarstiderne, 1941