Per Kireby at the Museen Böttcherstraß

7 Februray - 6 June '16

Per Kirkeby (b.1938) is one of Denmark’s most versatile contemporary artists. The striking impression made by his large-format paintings derives primarily from their expressive effect. With his PhD in geology, he permits natural structures and forms to flow into his work. However, it would be a great mistake to reduce this artist from Copenhagen solely to his paintings. Drawings and bronze models round off the selection of works to be presented at the Museen Böttcherstraß.

The selected works by Per Kirkeby harmoniously integrate themselves into the galleries of the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum in Bremen’s Böttcherstraße. Like his oeuvre, the works of Paula Modersohn-Becker are also defined by an intimate bond to nature. And like Kirkeby, the architect of the Böttcherstraße and sculptor Bernhard Hoetger was also convinced of the value of brick as a material and as a symbol of Nordic architecture.

The exhibition is an institutional cooperation with the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, where a Paula Modersohn-Becker retrospective could be seen until the spring of 2016.

The Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum was the first museum in the world to be dedicated to the work of a female painter. The masterpieces on display illustrate the artist’s extraordinary importance as a pioneer of modern painting.

The museum building was commissioned by the businessman and patron Ludwig Roselius, who owned a considerable collection of Paula Modersohn-Becker’s work. The building’s architect, Bernhard Hoetger, designed a unique building that is considered one of the most important examples of Expressionist architecture in Germany; it was opened in 1927 as a museum.

In 1988 the collection was purchased by the city of Bremen and the Federal Republic of Germany. The collection has been supplemented with works from the estate of the artist, which is managed by the Paula Modersohn-Becker Stiftung, founded in 1978 by the artist’s daughter, Mathilde Modersohn. In 1994 the savings bank Sparkasse Bremen invested in the museum’s restoration and expansion. Today the museum provides an overview of every phase of the artist’s oeuvre.

The museum also houses the most extensive collection of works by Bernhard Hoetgers, beginning with sculptures that were still influenced by Auguste Rodin and continuing on to his more independent late period. Jenny Holzer’s installation For Paula Modersohn-Becker has been on permanent display since May 2005.

Per Kirkeby: Ohne Titel, 1965, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk

Per Kirkeby: Læso, 2001, Öl auf Leinwand, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Schenkung Jytte und Dennis Dresing

Per Kirkeby: Grün Frühling, 1988, Öl auf Leinwand, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Per Kirkeby: Ohne Titel, 2013, Mixed Media, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, erworben mit Mitteln der Augustinus Stiftung

Per Kirkeby: Ohne Titel, 1988, Bronze, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Dauerleihgabe Galerie Bo Bjerggaard