Famous Artists from Denmark

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Updated August 30, 2019 41.4K views70 items

List of the most popular artists from Denmark, listed alphabetically with photos when available. For centuries artists have been among the world's most important people, helping chronicle history and keep us entertained with one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Whether they're known for painting, sculpting, etching or drawing, the famous Danish artists on this list have kept that tradition alive by creating renowned pieces of art that have been praised around the world. You can find useful information below about these notable Danish artists, such as when they were born and where their place of birth was.

List features William Heinesen, Per Kirkeby and more.

This list answers the questions, "Which famous artists are from Denmark?" and "Who are the most well-known Danish artists?"

For further information on these historic Danish artists, click on their names. If you're a fine art lover use this list of celebrated Danish artists to discover some new paintings that you will enjoy.
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  • Ólafur Elíasson

    Ólafur Elíasson

    The Weather Project, The aerial river series, Multiple grotto
    • Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark
    • Associated periods or movements: Contemporary art
    • Nationality: Iceland, Denmark
    • Art Forms: Installation art
    Olafur Eliasson (Icelandic: Ólafur Elíasson; born 1967) is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research. Olafur represented Denmark at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003 and later that year installed The Weather Project in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, London. Olafur has engaged in a number of projects in public space, including the intervention Green river, carried out in various cities between 1998 and 2001; the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2007, London, a temporary pavilion designed with the Norwegian architect Kjetil Trædal Thorsen; and The New York City Waterfalls, commissioned by Public Art Fund in 2008. He also created the Breakthrough Prize trophy. Like much of his work, the sculpture explores the common ground between art and science. It is molded into the shape of a toroid, recalling natural forms found from black holes and galaxies to seashells and coils of DNA.Olafur was a professor at the Berlin University of the Arts from 2009 to 2014 and is an adjunct professor at the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa since 2014.
  • Johann Georg Ziesenis

    Johann Georg Ziesenis

    Johann Georg Ziesenis was a German - Danish portrait painter. After drawing lessons from his father, Ziesenis lived in Düsseldorf, where he painted several portraits of the royal family. In 1760 he became court painter at Hanover. Johann Georg Ziesenis created about 260 portraits and other paintings and sketches in the course of his life, including ones of Frederick II and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
  • Viggo Mortensen

    Viggo Mortensen

    Chatter box Eyes, Gulf Stream, Elendil
    • Birthplace: New York City, Manhattan, USA, New York
    • Nationality: Denmark, United States of America
    • Art Forms: Painting
    Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. (; Danish: [viːko ˈmɒːtn̩sn̩]; born October 20, 1958) is a Danish-American actor, author, musician, photographer, poet, and painter. Born in New York to a Danish father and American mother, he was a resident of Venezuela and Argentina during his childhood. He is the recipient of various accolades including a Screen Actors Guild Award and has been nominated for three Academy Awards, three BAFTA Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. Mortensen made his film debut in a small role in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness starring Harrison Ford and has appeared in several notable films since, including The Indian Runner (1991), Carlito's Way (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Daylight (1996), The Portrait of a Lady (1996), G.I. Jane (1997), Psycho (1998), A Perfect Murder (1998), A Walk on the Moon (1999), and 28 Days (2000). Mortensen received international attention in the early 2000s with his role as Aragorn in the epic fantasy adventure trilogy The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003). In 2005, Mortensen won critical acclaim for David Cronenberg's crime thriller A History of Violence. Two years later, another Cronenberg film, Eastern Promises (2007), earned him further critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. A third teaming with Cronenberg in A Dangerous Method (2011) resulted in a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture. Other well-received films include Appaloosa (2008) and Far from Men (2014). Further Academy Award nominations came for his leading roles in Captain Fantastic (2016) and Green Book (2018). Aside from acting, Mortensen's other artistic pursuits include fine arts, photography, poetry, and music. In 2002, he founded the Perceval Press to publish the works of little-known artists and authors.
  • Camille Pissarro

    Camille Pissarro

    The Garden of the Tuileries on a Winter Afternoon, The Garden of the Tuileries on a Winter Afternoon, The Hermitage at Pontoise
    • Birthplace: Charlotte Amalie, United States Virgin Islands
    • Associated periods or movements: Post-Impressionism, Impressionism, Neo-impressionism
    • Nationality: France, Denmark
    • Art Forms: Painting
    Camille Pissarro ( piss-AR-oh, French: [kamij pisaʁo]; 10 July 1830 – 13 November 1903) was a Danish-French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas (now in the US Virgin Islands, but then in the Danish West Indies). His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Pissarro studied from great forerunners, including Gustave Courbet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. He later studied and worked alongside Georges Seurat and Paul Signac when he took on the Neo-Impressionist style at the age of 54. In 1873 he helped establish a collective society of fifteen aspiring artists, becoming the "pivotal" figure in holding the group together and encouraging the other members. Art historian John Rewald called Pissarro the "dean of the Impressionist painters", not only because he was the oldest of the group, but also "by virtue of his wisdom and his balanced, kind, and warmhearted personality". Paul Cézanne said "he was a father for me. A man to consult and a little like the good Lord", and he was also one of Paul Gauguin's masters. Pierre-Auguste Renoir referred to his work as "revolutionary", through his artistic portrayals of the "common man", as Pissarro insisted on painting individuals in natural settings without "artifice or grandeur". Pissarro is the only artist to have shown his work at all eight Paris Impressionist exhibitions, from 1874 to 1886. He "acted as a father figure not only to the Impressionists" but to all four of the major Post-Impressionists, Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin.
  • Per Kirkeby

    Per Kirkeby

    Flight to Egypt, Wald-Variation VI, Sitting model
    • Birthplace: Copenhagen, Denmark
    • Nationality: Denmark
    • Art Forms: Painting
    Per Kirkeby (1 September 1938 – 9 May 2018) was a Danish painter, poet, film maker and sculptor.
  • Asger Jorn

    Asger Jorn

    Stalingrad, Schweizer Suite, Die Zwei Elemente
    • Birthplace: Jutland, Denmark
    • Nationality: Denmark
    • Art Forms: Painting
    Asger Oluf Jorn (3 March 1914 – 1 May 1973) was a Danish painter, sculptor, ceramic artist, and author. He was a founding member of the avant-garde movement COBRA and the Situationist International. He was born in Vejrum, in the northwest corner of Jutland, Denmark, and baptized Asger Oluf Jørgensen. The largest collection of Asger Jorn's works—including his major work Stalingrad—can be seen in the Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark. Asger Jorn willed his property and the works of art located inside to the Municipality of Albissola Marina (Savona), so that the italian museum called "Casa Museo Jorn" was created for displaying his works.