Throughout the years, the Henie Onstad Art Centre enjoyed a close relationship with Asger Jorn (1914–1973) and his art, at first through the donors, who had already acquired a significant corpus of the artist’s work, and then through the staff members and their close relations and friendship with the artist.
Asger Jorn had always felt a strong bond with Norway. He often visited the country, where he had many friends, including several Norwegian artists. For Jorn, Norway was in many ways more “Nordic” than either Denmark or Sweden. He believed that the medieval Nordic cultural traditions were more alive here. His interest in these traditions is apparent in his work, and he also travelled widely to gather material for a comprehensive series of books about 10,000 years of Nordic folk art, a project he contributed to as a member of the editorial staff. During the debate which took place in the 1970s, and the national referendum that followed to decide whether or not Norway should join the European Union, Jorn also became deeply involved, being a strong opponent of Europeanization, himself. When Norway voted against joining the EU in 1972, he decided to move to Norway for good.
Sadly, he died a year later, before his plans could be realized.
A couple of years before he died, Jorn had decided to donate a comprehensive selection of his work to the Art Centre. Even though these plans came to a halt with his premature death, he had already selected 189 drawings and watercolours for this donation, and his widow made sure that his wish was acted upon: these became the property of the Henie Onstad Art Centre.
His works in the collection span the period between 1955 and 1972, and were chosen by the artist as representative of the way in which he worked at different stages during his career. Together, and separately, they give a fascinating overview of the various phases of Jorn’s artistic life. He always claimed that he was first and foremost a painter, and that his work in other media should be seen in relation to his paintings. The motifs that appear in his drawings and watercolours can often be found in his paintings from the same period.
The Asger Jorn collection at the Henie Onstad Art Centre has grown over the years, thanks also to other private gifts and loans. The collection as of today is just one example of the many other unique donations to the Art Centre that have made it the holder of the country’s most important selection of work by the Cobra artists, of great interest internationally, as well.
The essay is taken from the book The Henie Onstad Art Centre: The Art of Tomorrow Today : The Collection by Karin Hellandsjø, Torino : Skira, 2008.
