Willumsen's World
Fertility: fertile; nutritious; fruitful; The definition of Willumsen's extensive production of paintings, photographs, sculptures and ceramics. And the title of one of Willumsen's most controversial works. The first time Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958) really stirred the minds of his countrymen was in 1891. From Paris he sent the etching Fertility home for exhibition at Den Frie in Copenhagen. Willumsen's simplistic, symbolist portrayal of his pregnant wife, and a programmatic statement about the "new art", outraged the Danish art public, who nevertheless queued to see the scandalous work. Since then, Willumsen has parted ways with his ongoing, often grandiose and sometimes extreme, figurative art.
Photo: David Stjernholm
Photo: David Stjernholm
The road to a museum
Willumsen renewed painting with images that were carried by a completely personal style. He drew on tradition and at the same time was in dialogue with the popular culture of the time. Rapid movement, caricature and fiery colors are thus elements in many of his paintings. As a sculptor, he produced monumental works. Probably the most well-known is The Great Relief, which is currently on display in the museum's largest hall, but was originally intended for a bar in Chicago. Willumsen designed several buildings, including his own house in Hellerup. In the 1930s, he also conceptualized a Willumsens Museum for his own art and the collection of older art he had built up. However, the museum did not open until 1957 in Frederikssund, his grandfather's birthplace.
Ahead of his time
For over 70 years Willumsen was active as an artist and experienced two world wars, a resounding technological development, the break of avant-garde art with the recognizable motif and the birth of modern, abstract painting. He visited the USA, North Africa and many countries in Europe. From 1916 until his death he lived in the South of France. Over the years Willumsen lived with three different women, all artistically oriented. In his life and art, the sculptor Edith Wessel, whom Willumsen married in 1903 and never formally divorced, and the partnership in his later years, the French dancer Michelle Bourret, played a particularly important role.
Many of Willumsen's major works stand today as significant contributions to Nordic modernism, but some works were also rejected and were only rediscovered in recent years. Defiantly, Willumsen continued to innovate and go his own way. Some of the most radical and color-explosive works date from his advanced age. This late period has been misunderstood until recently. This proved Willumsen right that his art would only be understood in posterity.
Extensive art collection
Willumsen collected paintings that he attributed to Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, El Greco, Rembrandt and Cézanne. He undoubtedly saw himself as the latest in a line of great artists who pushed the boundaries of what was possible in their time. The museum houses Willumsen's large collection – the "Old Collection" – of both genuine and counterfeit works, which provide a key to understanding his artistic vision.
Here we show a selection of Willumsen's expansive and wide-ranging world. From his self-portraits, to the unfolding of joy and vitality in a monumental bathing motif, to the collage-like work with the painting. The wedding of the king's son, we follow an artist who continues to claim his place in the present.
Photo: David Stjernholm
