Per Kirkeby

PER KIRKEBY

ART HISTORICAL THEORY AND NORDIC ROMANTICISM

With nature as the starting point Per Kirkeby creates paintings that occupy the field between metaphysical ambitions of Romanticism and the critical awareness of modern art. 

Das Urteil des Paris, 1966

The painting presents an architectural white triangular gable with 24 thin, vertical 'columns' that join at the bottom in a horizontal bar.

Description 
Behind the top part of the columns is painted a uniform blue while the bottom half of the columns half obscures a figurative but expressive landscape with various plants and flowers. The white structure is bordered by a monochrome grey, the picture’s bottom third being the exception: the natural backdrop is painted to the edge.

About the work
The painting is dominated by the white structure. It resembles a classical Greek pediment with a traditional colonnade. The painting illustrates Kirkeby's interest in architectural forms, specifically pediments and fences which he employs to enclose natural sceneries, often rendered as chromatic and growing wild.
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Kirkeby's art in general
In the 1960s Kirkeby's painting was also influenced by American Pop art. He incorporated visual quotations, templates, comics, etc from the modern world of media. The paintings are distinguished by a collage technique and the shiny, eye-catching paint and colours. Parallel with this Kirkeby experimented with paintings with serial sequences, like e.g. The Judgment of Paris.
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Literature
"Per Kirkeby. Malerier 1957-1977" (Ane Hejlskov Larsen), Borgen, København, 2002
"Per Kirkeby. 122x122 malerier på masonit" (Poul Erik Tøjner, Michael Juul Holm), Louisiana, 2002
"Per Kirkeby" (Anders Kold, Dorthe Aagesen, Lars Morell) ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, 1996