1968 Metal Relief by Knud Horup

Knud Horup (1926 – 1973) was a Danish painter working with different materials to create both restrained, idyllic landscape scenes in his early career, and abstracted, textured assemblages later on. After studying in Aarhus and Gothenburg, Horup opened his own painting school in 1943.

His earlier pieces draw on the traditions of landscape painting in Danish art, using soft, blurry, and muted tones. People, isolated or sometimes in pairs and small groups, are hard to make out, often faceless. As Horup matured, he moved away from using people or landscapes as obvious subjects, turning more to the mid-twentieth century modernist art that dominated the era.

This piece is a striking example of this; Horup uses different textures, including layering shards of metal, to give depth and a fragmentation effect. The contrast between the soft, earthy tones with the bright red layer underneath, and the softness of the colours with the hardness of the metal makes for a piece that is both intricate and understated.