Asger Jorn (Vejrum, Denmark, 1914 - Aarhus, 1973) was one of the most significant European artists of the post-war period, a key figure in European Abstract Expressionism and a founding member of the COBRA movement, as well as a radical theorist of the relationship between art, politics, and society.
After training in Paris under the influence of Fernand Léger, Jorn quickly developed a free, gestural, and instinctive pictorial language, positioning himself in opposition to rationalism and modernist formalism. In 1948, he co-founded the COBRA group (Copenhagen–Brussels–Amsterdam), which advocated for spontaneous, primitive, and collective forms of artistic expression, drawing inspiration from folklore, children’s art, and the unconscious.
Jorn’s painting is characterized by dense, highly material compositions, where color, gesture, and mark interact in a dynamic balance between chaos and structure. Alongside his artistic practice, Jorn was a prolific writer and thinker; his belief in art as a social force led him to collaborate closely with the Situationist International, contributing significantly to its critical and philosophical foundations.
Asger Jorn’s works are held in major international museum collections, including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark. His legacy endures in a vision of art as a vital, collective, and deeply human act - one that resists both aesthetic conformity and commodification.
