Museets historie

As early as 1943, Carl-Henning Pedersen believed that an artist’s freedom would be at risk if they had to paint for “popular taste.” Ideally, he envisioned society taking over the distribution of artists’ work in exchange for providing them with a means of living. He imagined modern art libraries where paintings could bring joy to as many people as possible.

Carl-Henning Pedersen’s vision of making art accessible did not end with art libraries. Instead, the artist was given his own museum in Herning, which today holds more than 6,000 works by him and his wife, Else Alfelt. The vision from that time remains embedded in the museum’s DNA: art should be accessible to everyone.

Below follows a brief introduction to the museum’s origins, followed by a timeline that provides an overview of how an extraordinary place was created on a meadow in Herning…

Carl-Henning Pedersen’s international breakthrough in the 1960s did not change his reluctance to sell his works. In 1965, he declined to sell to the Danish Arts Foundation and instead began to nurture the idea of a dedicated one-artist museum.

The starting point for the negotiations that would later lead to the establishment of the museum in Herning was an interview published in Berlingske Tidende’s Easter edition in 1966. The interview was accompanied by the photograph “Tut Ankh Amons skatkammer i 66-udgave”, showing Carl-Henning surrounded by hundreds of stacked paintings in the attic of the Carlsberg brewery.

In the interview, he made the sensational proposal to donate his entire body of work from 1936 onwards to the state - a gift then estimated at 20–50 million DKK - in exchange for the state providing a suitable building to house it.

The proposal was received positively by the Minister of Culture, who explored the possibility of a location in Copenhagen. However, during the consultation process, concerns arose about whether a one-artist museum might set a precedent. As Carl-Henning himself put it, there was a fear that both “bad” and even good artists might demand their own museum—and what would one do then?

Plans for establishing a museum continued in Copenhagen. In Utterslev Mose, space was identified for a Japanese-style art pavilion, where Carl-Henning Pedersen’s collection could be exhibited in an inner gallery - not on its own, but alongside other modern art. Other cities also entered the discussion. Holbæk and Hjørring were in contention, as were Asger Jorn and Jørn Utzon’s new museum in Silkeborg.

In Aarhus, the renowned architect and professor C.F. Møller assigned his students a graduation project: to design “a museum for the painter Carl-Henning Pedersen” located on a fictional site south of Aarhus. Ultimately, it was C.F. Møller and his son Mads Møller who designed the museum based on Carl-Henning Pedersen’s specifications.

In Herning, Mayor Jens Mathiasen proposed using the former manor building Herningsholm as a museum. Carl-Henning Pedersen already had a special connection to Herning through the shirt manufacturer Aage Damgaard, who had commissioned him to decorate the inner courtyard of Angligården. “The wall in Herning” ultimately decided where the museum would be located.

The museum in Herning could thus finally be built after a long and complex process that had been underway since 1966. Carl-Henning Pedersen’s dream was finally realised on 13 September 1976, when the museum was inaugurated by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II - not only with Carl-Henning Pedersen’s own paintings, but also with works by his late wife, Else Alfelt.

Over the years, Carl-Henning Pedersen continued to leave his mark on Herning. In 1993, the circular museum building was joined by a pyramid-shaped mountain peak, “as a symbol of Else Alfelt, the painter of mountains and light,” as the chair of the building committee wrote. In 2015, an underground extension was added, connecting the original museum with Angligården. C.F. Møller Architects once again ensured aesthetic and thematic continuity between the buildings and the landscape.

Carl-Henning Pedersen himself described his museum as an extraordinary place in the heart of Jutland.

In 2003, the pyramid was followed by an exclamation mark when an obelisk with ceramic decoration by Carl-Henning Pedersen was erected in the centre of the roundabout near the museum. Together, the three forms- the circle, the triangle, and the line - appear as extraordinary manifestations of Carl-Henning Pedersen’s vision of making art accessible to the people.

1933–34
Else Alfelt and Carl-Henning Pedersen meet at the International Folk High School in Helsingør. They marry and join forces - both in art and in life.

1936
Else Alfelt and Carl-Henning Pedersen establish a permanent residence and studio in a one-and-a-half-room apartment on Ny Carlsberg Vej in Copenhagen. The same year, they both make their debut at the Artists’ Autumn Exhibition.

1948–51
Together with other artists from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium, the artist couple takes part in CoBrA. The group fights for free art as the foundation of a free world.

1950
Else Alfelt becomes both the first female and the first abstract artist to receive the prestigious travel grant from the New Carlsberg Foundation, the Rome Scholarship.

1954
The artist couple moves to a larger apartment on Esplanaden in Copenhagen. This change also leads to their works from the mid-1950s being created in larger formats.

1958
Carl-Henning Pedersen is awarded The Guggenheim National Award.

1960
Carl-Henning Pedersen stops selling his works to private collectors.

1962
Carl-Henning Pedersen represents Denmark at the Venice Biennale and is awarded the UNESCO Prize. He achieves his international breakthrough, yet surprises the art world by refusing to sell his works.

1964
Shirt manufacturer Aage Damgaard invites Carl-Henning Pedersen to create Europe’s largest artwork on the walls of the new Angli factory in Herning.

1965
Carl-Henning Pedersen declines to sell his works to the Danish Arts Foundation.

1966
In Berlingske Tidende, Carl-Henning Pedersen offers to donate a substantial part of his life’s work to the state. The large-scale donation sparks intense debate in the press, where sites such as Sophienholm, Løgumkloster, and the Herningsholm manor are proposed as possible settings for the artist’s works.

1966–1973
The debate continues in the press, both for and against the establishment of a museum dedicated to Carl-Henning Pedersen.

1968
The 1,000 m² ceramic work The Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life is inaugurated in Angligården in Herning. The work is the largest of its kind in Europe and is donated by the artist to the factory on the condition that it remains publicly accessible.

1969
The dialogue about a museum continues, and the exhibition “200 Paintings in 12 Days at Louisiana” presents a selection of the works under discussion.

1973
Else Alfelt is awarded the Thorvaldsen Medal.

It is decided that a museum dedicated to Carl-Henning Pedersen’s art will be built in Herning.

1974
Else Alfelt passes away at the age of 63. Carl-Henning Pedersen donates 1,000 of her works to Herning, and his vision of a personal museum is transformed into a museum dedicated to the artist couple.

1976
The museum in Herning is inaugurated by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II. The first exhibition consists exclusively of works by Else Alfelt.

1977
Carl-Henning Pedersen marries the Norwegian photographer and architect Sidsel Ramson. She becomes a central figure at the museum in Herning, and until 2003 the two of them jointly create new annual exhibitions at the museum.

1993
The museum is expanded with the underground “Prism Hall.” Its form is inspired by Else Alfelt’s visual universe and serves as a tribute to her artistic work.

1998
The exhibition “Dialogue” with the Japanese-American artist Shinkichi Tajiri becomes the first at the museum to include external artists.

2001
Carl-Henning Pedersen is named an honorary citizen of Herning.

2003
The museum transitions to artistic and curatorial leadership.

2007
Carl-Henning Pedersen passes away at the age of 93. His urn is placed in Angligården, at the centre of his major work The Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life.

2015
The museum is expanded with two additional underground galleries, creating a direct connection to Angligården and the workThe Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life.

2025
The first retrospective touring exhibition featuring the artist couple Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt is sent out into the world.