When Per Kirkeby passed away at the age of 79 in May 2018, he left behind a wealth of stunning paintings, brick and bronze sculptures, prints, drawings, texts and video works. An immensely creative and courageous artist, Kirkeby is considered Denmark's foremost 20th century artist and has an obvious place in international art history as one of the most significant painters and sculptors in Europe. Early in his career, Kirkeby turned to pop art and then to more abstract expressionist painting. In the 1960s, his performance art linked him to famous Fluxus artists such as Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik. His big breakthrough came in 1978 when Kirkeby participated in the Venice Biennale, where a large international audience discovered his work.
Kirkeby also had a university degree in Arctic geology and took part in several research trips. This interest can be sensed in all his artistic expressions. He found his motifs in the landscape and nature. The paintings all have a strong structure, with driven brushstrokes, layers upon layers of shapes and lines that form their own topography. Kirkeby's brick sculptures have a direct connection to the Danish soil. Using the burnt clay, he created large spatial installations on the borderline between sculpture and architecture. He kneaded the smaller sculptures out of the clay himself, the traces of his fingers still visible in the heavy bronze casts.
Kirkeby had always looked up to the German Neo-Expressionists Baselitz, Penck and Immendorff, who were represented by the gallerist Michael Werner. In 1974 he made contact with Kirkeby and in the same year Kirkeby had his first exhibition at the gallery in Cologne. The consigned painting "Vibeke, juli" has been exhibited at Galerie Michael Werner. Typical of Kirkeby's 1980s are the clear references to nature and the earthy colour scales. In 1981 he began work on his abstract, rough bronze sculptures formed in clay, which recur for many years to come. At the end of 1989, he also created a series of paintings with motifs from the forest.