Lot Essay
In 1953 Asger Jorn was released from a sanatorium in Silkeborg where he had spent the last 17 months recuperating from tuberculosis. Together with his wife and children, he went to Switzerland for a further respite. Begun in 1953, the title of the present painting alludes to this new period of rest.
Repose is indeed a family portrait. The largest figure, in the bottom left corner of the painting, portrays Jorn himself, with his wife Matie on the right. The smaller figures above represent his five children. Indeed, in its size, heightened luminosity of colour and sheer dynamism of expression, the work reflects the artist's renewed energy and happiness on being reunited with his family.
The central horizontal plains of Repose form a blanket-like protective covering over the figures, reinforcing the sense of security which forms the basis of the family unit. The figure in the central area of the work, who looks out to the right, reveals one brown wing, while its other wing is used to nestle its younger sibling. Thanks to the beak-like nose that Jorn has given to his own face, as well as the oval, owl-like shapes of the other family members, the figures resemble birds in a nest. The painter and his wife are thus shown as the protectors of their young.
Jorn was particularly influenced by Edvard Munch, whose work had been shown in Copenhagen in 1946. At the time Jorn painted Repose, he was clearly undergoing a renewed period of interest in the paintings of this other Scandinavian artist. As well as evident in Jorn's use of cool blue tones, the influence of Munch is also reflected in the picture's sinuous, sweeping curves, which form a net around the series of rounded semi-human forms.
The figures in Repose are enmeshed in one another, and it is through colour and outline that they gradually creep out, making themselves apparent against the sea of black and streaked blues. Jorn has transformed his family into visions, and they take on a form and shape dictated more by his feelings, than by a literal visual interpretation.
Repose is indeed a family portrait. The largest figure, in the bottom left corner of the painting, portrays Jorn himself, with his wife Matie on the right. The smaller figures above represent his five children. Indeed, in its size, heightened luminosity of colour and sheer dynamism of expression, the work reflects the artist's renewed energy and happiness on being reunited with his family.
The central horizontal plains of Repose form a blanket-like protective covering over the figures, reinforcing the sense of security which forms the basis of the family unit. The figure in the central area of the work, who looks out to the right, reveals one brown wing, while its other wing is used to nestle its younger sibling. Thanks to the beak-like nose that Jorn has given to his own face, as well as the oval, owl-like shapes of the other family members, the figures resemble birds in a nest. The painter and his wife are thus shown as the protectors of their young.
Jorn was particularly influenced by Edvard Munch, whose work had been shown in Copenhagen in 1946. At the time Jorn painted Repose, he was clearly undergoing a renewed period of interest in the paintings of this other Scandinavian artist. As well as evident in Jorn's use of cool blue tones, the influence of Munch is also reflected in the picture's sinuous, sweeping curves, which form a net around the series of rounded semi-human forms.
The figures in Repose are enmeshed in one another, and it is through colour and outline that they gradually creep out, making themselves apparent against the sea of black and streaked blues. Jorn has transformed his family into visions, and they take on a form and shape dictated more by his feelings, than by a literal visual interpretation.