Richard Mortensen

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Richard Mortensen (born October 23, 1910 in Copenhagen , Denmark , † January 6, 1993 in Copenhagen) was a Danish painter and one of the most important Danish artists of the 20th century.

Mortensen studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen from 1931 to 1932 . In 1937 he went on a study trip to Paris, where he met the most important representatives of surrealism .

In the early 1930s, Mortensen was influenced by the works of Wassily Kandinsky . His art of this time shows an expression that ties in with Kandinsky's abstract as well as his surrealistic formal language. In 1934 Mortensen co-founded the artist group "Linien". Mortensen's art later had a spontaneous expressionist character. His later pictures are characterized by large, clear, luminous areas of color that (set against one another) form the space of the painting. In 1946 Mortensen received the Edvard Munch Prize. In 1947 he moves to Paris, where he will live and work until 1964. In 1950 he received the Kandinsky Prize .

Richard Mortensen is a participant in documenta 1 (1955), documenta II (1959) and also documenta III in 1964 in Kassel . In 1960 he took part in the Venice Biennale . In 1968 he was awarded the Thorwaldsen Medal. After returning to Denmark in 1964, he was appointed professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, which he held until 1980.

Mortensen died in Copenhagen on January 6, 1993.

Solo exhibitions (selection)

  • 1947 Denise René Gallery , Paris
  • 1959 Galerie der Spiegel, Cologne
  • 1970 Louisiana Museum, Copenhagen
  • 1970 Kunsthalle Kiel
  • 1989 Bell´Art Gallery, Stockholm
  • 1998 "The dream of pure form", National Museum of Iceland, Reykjavík (participation in exhibition)

Sources and literature

  • Exhibition catalog, documenta, art of the XX. century , Munich 1955
  • Exhibition catalog: II.documenta´59. Art after 1945 ; Catalog: Volume 1: Painting; Volume 2: Sculpture; Volume 3: Graphic Art; Text tape; Kassel / Cologne 1959
  • Exhibition catalog: documenta III. International exhibition ; Catalog: Volume 1: Painting and Sculpture; Volume 2: Hand Drawings; Industrial design, graphics; Kassel / Cologne 1964

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mortensen, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish painter
DATE OF BIRTH October 23, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Copenhagen , Denmark
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 1993
Place of death Copenhagen , Denmark