KunstenaarDanishgeb.1914–ov.1999
Sven Dalsgaard
2 actieve items
Sven Dalsgaard Jensen was born on 29 May 1914 in Vorup, a small settlement on the outskirts of Randers in Jutland, and he would remain bound to that provincial city for the rest of his life - a deliberate choice that shaped both his mythology and his work. Self-taught as a painter, he made his first moves toward abstraction around 1934, drawn by the formal experiments of Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee at a time when such influences were far from mainstream in Danish art.
He debuted publicly at the Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling in 1943, and by the 1940s had moved into surrealism, inspired by Marcel Duchamp. This was not a brief phase but a lasting sensibility - an interest in the absurd, the symbolic, and the philosophically charged image that would resurface throughout his career. In the 1950s he shifted toward a more stylized formal vocabulary, producing elongated, spindly sculptures in patinated bronze that began appearing within his paintings as recurring figures.
The most emblematic moment of his early career came after the destruction of his sculpture "Pigen i Gudenåen" in 1952, removed during Randers' 650th anniversary celebrations. In response, Dalsgaard painted himself as Kristus fra Randers - a crucified artistic martyr on a cross made too small by the city's indifference. The series, begun in 1954, became one of the most personally charged statements in Danish postwar art, fusing autobiography, irony, and spiritual imagery.
Dalsgaard was extraordinarily prolific across an unusual breadth of disciplines. He worked in oil, lithography, sculpture, and writing - including poetry and art theory - exploring questions of metaphysics and aesthetics throughout. His production in the 1980s and 1990s drew freely on all previous periods, layering surrealist motifs, modernist structure, and a distinctly wry visual humor. From 1973 to 1979 he served as a guest professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and in 1978 he received the Thorvaldsen Medal, Denmark's highest honor in the visual arts. His work is held in depth at Randers Kunstmuseum, which holds approximately 1,200 works by him - among the largest single-artist holdings in any Danish regional museum. MoMA in New York also holds works by Dalsgaard in its collection.
At auction, Dalsgaard's work appears almost exclusively through Bruun Rasmussen, which accounts for all 27 items in the Auctionist database - handled primarily by the Aarhus and Lyngby branches. The material on offer skews toward lithographs, with a smaller number of bronze sculptures and paintings. Realized prices in the database range from around 1,100 to 2,400 DKK, reflecting the accessible end of his print market. Works like the lithograph "Den hjemvendte" (1994) and various numbered color lithographs from the late 1980s and 1990s represent the type of work that circulates regularly at Danish auction.