Carl-Henning Pedersen

Carl-Henning Pedersen (1913–2007) was a self-taught Danish artist born in Copenhagen. Encouraged to paint by Else Alfelt, he joined experimental artistic circles in Denmark before becoming a founding participant in CoBrA in 1948. His paintings populate luminous colour combinations with birds, masks and imaginary creatures. References to Nordic mythology meet spontaneous invention, attentive to the expressive possibilities of individual marks and unexpected encounters between colours across the painted surface.

This investigation also extended to lithography and monumental projects. From the 1960s, Pedersen produced large decorative ensembles, later creating mosaics, stained-glass work and frescoes for Ribe Cathedral. These commissions translated his world of signs and figures into an architectural scale. Colour continued to connect individual imagination with shared experience, giving his visual language a presence in spaces used by a wider public.