Fantasiens leg om livets hjul

The ceramic mural “The Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life” (1966–68), located in the inner courtyard of the Angli building, is the first monumental commission Carl-Henning Pedersen created in Herning. At its inauguration, it was celebrated as Europe’s largest artwork.

It also became an indirect catalyst for the establishment of his own museum in the city, which opened ten years later, in 1976.

In the mid-1950s, Carl-Henning Pedersen met the industrialist Aage Damgaard, who, through the iconic Angli factory, had attracted attention for introducing art into his workplaces in Herning. Damgaard actively worked to bring art down from its pedestal and make it accessible to ordinary workers.

In the early 1960s, Aage Damgaard contacted Carl-Henning Pedersen, as he was in need of an artist to decorate the courtyard of his new architect-designed factory building in Herning, Angligården.

Carl-Henning Pedersen agreed to undertake the commission, covering a total area of more than 1,000 m². For the project, he chose to work with glazed stoneware tiles, and in preparation for the final installation he practised directly on the wall, painting his characteristic figures in black paint. However, these were not intended as sketches for the finished work, which ultimately consisted of 15 separate panels divided by ornamental bands. The tiles were painted and fired at a ceramics factory in Germany before being transported to and installed in Herning.

The inauguration of what was described as Europe’s largest artwork took place in September 1968, officiated by the then Minister for Cultural Affairs, Kristen Helveg Petersen.

Carl-Henning Pedersen titled his major work “The Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life”.

At the inauguration in 1968, Carl-Henning Pedersen donated his invaluable masterwork as a gift to the public to Aage Damgaard, on the condition that it should remain freely accessible to everyone in perpetuity.

In connection with the commission at the Angli factory, Carl-Henning Pedersen established close ties with influential figures in the city, a network that played a significant role in enabling the opening of the Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum in 1976 as an artist museum - situated adjacent to Angligården and Carl-Henning Pedersen’s masterwork “The Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life”.

The gift to the public embodied in the mural was thus extended through the exceptional collection of Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt’s life’s work, generously donated to the museum in Herning.

When Carl-Henning Pedersen died in 2007, his urn was interred in the inner courtyard. He was thus laid to rest among the images of his imagination.

In 2024, Carl-Henning Pedersen’s second wife, Sidsel Ramson, also passed away. After 17 years, the couple was reunited when she too was laid to rest beneath the grass in the courtyard.

Although Carl-Henning Pedersen’s monumental mural “The Play of Imagination on the Wheel of Life” has since been surpassed in size as Europe’s largest artwork, it remains a major work - not only within the artist’s own oeuvre, but also in the broader context of Danish art history.

The significance of the work for art in Herning and the Central Denmark Region cannot be overstated, as it indirectly formed the foundation for the opening of the Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum in Herning, housing an exceptional collection of the artists’ life’s work.