1970 Oil Painting by Mogens Valeur

Mogens Valeur (1927-2000) was a respected Danish painter and is represented in art museums in Denmark and Norway. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and from the age of 35 was able to earn a living from his art. He built his own house and studio in Tibirke, and converted a farm into a summer house in Sønderhå. It was in these locations that he produced his paintings.

The painterly surface and the exploration of illumination in this oil on canvas are typical characteristics of work by the artist. The artist has applied paint confidently, building up gestural, sweeping brush marks in order to express the form of the sitter and the direction of the light source.

Of his paintings, the artist said, ‘My pictures are to be experienced with the eyes. I consider them failures if they cannot speak for themselves. A good picture speaks directly to the mind without any intermediary of theories or words.’