Per Kirkeby: The motif is the memory

Kirkeby is internationally recognized as one of Denmark's most famous contemporary artists. Born in 1938 in Copenhagen, his scientific background in geology provided him with a rational skillset before he entered the Experimental Art School in Copenhagen in 1962. His participation in several expeditions to Greenland sharpened his field observations and led him to an interest in the Mayan ruins of Central America. Kirkeby's lifelong pursuit to find an underlying structure first in nature and then in the visual arts also influenced his work as a writer and poet. An intellectual equally informed by the natural sciences, art history, film, and literature, Kirkeby often wrote measurably and metaphorically: "The motif is the beginning, the provocation and the possibility of correction. The motif is the memory. Without memory one cannot paint a picture." - Per Kirkeby in Per Kirkeby: Übermalungen, 1964-1984 (München, Der Kunstraum, 1984)

From 1974, Kirkeby was represented by Galerie Michael Werner and subsequently held teaching positions in Germany for over two decades. His introduction to Werner artists and close friendship with Georg Baselitz, AR Penck and Markus Lüpertz directed his interest to the more conventional materials of oil and canvas. Encouraged by his contemporaries, Kirkeby traveled throughout Europe studying the techniques of the Old Masters, in particular painting and printmaking. In the large-scale painting Untitled (1978), which has not been publicly exhibited in over twenty years, Kirkeby demonstrates the influence of Eugène Delacroix's figural and architectural forms, as well as the compositional choreography of French Romanticism.

Per Kirkeby (1938-2018, Copenhagen) joined Eks-skolen (The Experimental Art School), Copenhagen (1962) and graduated from University of Copenhagen, MA, Arctic Geology (1964). He was Professor at Academy of Art, Karlsruhe (1978-89) and Professor at Die Städelschule, Frankfurt (1989-2000). Major solo presentations in recent years include: Per Kirkeby. Evocación de la posteridad, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2023); Bricks: Per Kirkeby, ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj (2023); Per Kirkeby - Bronze, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (2020); and Per Kirkeby, Kunsthalle Krems (2018). His work is included in the collections of Centre Pompidou, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum Ludwig, Cologne; Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Copenhagen; and Tate Modern, London, among others.