Carl-Henning Pedersen was born in 1913 in Copenhagen.
His family belonged to the working class, and Carl-Henning Pedersen grew up with a strong sense of social commitment. As a young man he dreamt of becoming a composer or an architect. In 1933, however, he attended The International Folk High School, which was to have a decisive influence on his future. At the High School he met Else Alfelt who introduced him to painting. The couple was married the following year, and in 1936 they both had their debut as painters at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling (The Artists’ Fall Exhibition) in Copenhagen: Carl-Henning Pedersen with four abstract paintings and Else Alfelt with two naturalistic paintings.

Paris
In 1939, Carl-Henning Pedersen went on the young artist’s mandatory journey to Paris – on foot, bringing along with him two loaves of rye-bread and very little money! Here he encountered works by such great international painters as Picasso, Matisse and Chagall. On his way home, he stopped off in Frankfurt Am Main to see the "Entartete Kunst" exhibition. In the 1940s he participated in the exhibitions held by the Høst (Fall) group of artists and contributed to the journal Helhesten, two important organs of Danish abstract art.

Cobra
Carl-Henning Pedersen was one of the founders of Cobra when the movement was formed in 1948. Here he found like-minded artists who shared his ideas of an art based on freedom, imagination and spontaneity. Carl-Henning Pedersen exhibited at an increasing rate up through the 1950s. He received the Eckersberg Award in 1950 and the Guggenheim Award in 1958. Carl-Henning Pedersen’s international breakthrough came in 1962, when he was the official Danish representative at the Venice Biennial. The following year he was honoured with the Thorvaldsen Medal.

Decorative Works
During the 1960s and 70s, Carl-Henning Pedersen’s position as one of Denmark’s greatest artists was further consolidated by several monumental decoration assignments: A mosaic mural for the H.C. Ørsted Institute in Copenhagen (1959-64), a ceramic mural for the Angli courtyard in Herning (1966-68), a mosaic for the John F. Kennedy School in Gladsaxe (1974), and the ceramic decorations of the exterior of the Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt Museum in Herning (1975 and 1992). In 1983, Carl-Henning Pedersen was asked by the National Fund for the Endowment of the Arts (Statens Kunstfond) to take on the redecoration of Ribe Cathedral. Carl-Henning Pedersen chose to decorate the Gothic cathedral with mosaics, glass paintings and frescos, giving his own, very personal interpretation of Biblical stories and motifs.

 "HØJSOMMER"

This painting, painted in 1990, is dedicated to Hospice-movement in connection to WORLDDAY 2005 - and postcards and posters are sold by Hospicefonden Danmark - order by e-mail

Style of Painting
Carl-Henning Pedersen’s work springs from a personal, imaginative universe inhabited by a number of recurring figures: birds, horses, eyes, suns, moons, wheels, ships and castles.

His motifs grow spontaneously and organically out of the colours.

The painting style is one of free-wheeling fantasy and abstraction in the sense that the images, rather than being representational, depict moods and feelings.

As a viewer, one must play an active part in the encounter with the artist’s works; their abstract formal idiom speaks to the imagination, encouraging the viewer to create his or her own individual stories.

Carl-Henning Pedersen himself explains it in the following way:"When I paint a bird, it is a form of magic...For me the bird is still a living symbol of something inside me and inside all human beings."

In this respect Carl-Henning Pedersen’s work is reminiscent of "primitive" art or children’s art – imaginative, spontaneous paintings in touch with an unspoiled, childish joy.

Visit Carl-Henning Pedersen og Else Alfelts Museum - Herning, Denmark