The Great Relief
Willumsen sketches his first ideas for The Great Relief as early as 1893. Inspiration for the work arises during his visit to the World’s Fair in Chicago the same year, when he has the idea of creating a large relief to be installed behind a bar. The overall composition is already in place in his initial sketches. The relief revolves around the complexity and opposing forces of life.
The Great Relief is without doubt one of the most outstanding works in Willumsen’s oeuvre. It is a project that takes over 35 years, following him through a large part of his life as an artist. He starts working on the relief as early as 1893 when in Chicago and imagines it as a decorative wall behind a bar. Willumsen’s original plan was to make the relief in colourful, glazed ceramics with elements of wood, mother-of-pearl, marble and bronze. Throughout the 1890s his work on the relief is the driving force behind his experiments with ceramics.
It is not, however, until 1923 that he is able to embark on the full-scale work when the state of Denmark, with the support of the New Carlsberg Foundation, commissions the work on the occasion of his 60th birthday. In the years that follow he immerses himself in the project. Since the relief is now to be made of marble, he secures the assistance of specialists at the Lazzarini marble workshop in Carrara. This involves spending long periods of time in Italy, which takes a physical and mental toll on Willumsen as well as putting a strain on family life and his marriage to Edith.
Upon its completion in 1928 the relief is installed at the National Gallery of Denmark and provokes an outcry in the Danish art world. When Willumsen’s Museum is built in 1955-57 the relief is moved to Frederikssund where it can still be seen today.
