Tag Archive: Per Kirkeby


Alright, maybe there was a hero, during my time at the academy. In the late eighties Per Kirkeby was “hot”. Great painter, and as one of my art(history) teachers put it: a painter for painters.

A saw the movie “A winter’s tale”, about the proces of making art. And “We build upon ruins”.

Last year, Per Kirkeby fell down the stairs. A stroke. He can’t see to the left. He doesn’t recognize faces.

But as Per put it: “I am virtually a blind painter. But I am not blind, when I work”

Anne Regitze Wivel made a documentary:

Man Falling

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And take a look at this one also, “We build upon ruins”. Great insights about making art, how does the artistic mind works.

We build upon ruins

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Well, I don’t believe in heroes. However, Per is getting close. We both work with the same themes. And we both are real “painters’.

During my study at the academy in Utrecht (HKU) I saw a marvellous exhibition in Amsterdam. And a few years later in Denmark, in the Louisiana Museum. Per really knocked me of my feet. Can you cry,  just by watching a few paintings? Yes, you can (Obama will agree on this).

My teachers told me, that Kirkeby is a “difficult painter, really a painter for painters”. I don’t know if they are right or wrong. I don’t know how it is “Not to be a painter”.

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