Literature: Ane Hejlskov Larsen: “Per Kirkeby - Malerier 1957–1977”, Copenhagen 2002, cat. M 118, ill. p. 270. Provenance: Private Collection, Denmark.

The 1960s are a time of upheaval, where ways and customs are in decline. Both within the art world and society in general. Eks-Skolen (The Experimental Art School) is founded in 1961 in Copenhagen in opposition to the established art scene and traditional exhibition places. Per Kirkeby attends the school in the years 1962–65. The school is highly oriented towards trends outside of Denmark, has a focus on the work process, immerses itself in the materials, has a focus on collective artistic practices and happenings, but clearly also finds inspiration in American minimalism and pop art. The artwork is broken down to its most essential – pure form and colour without reference to anything else. A large part of the spirit at the school is about democratization, bringing high culture down from its pedestal and communicating directly with the audience – smoothing out the difference between high and popular culture. It is with this zeitgeist as a backdrop that Per Kirkeby includes the flat, template-like forms from pop art in his work and establishes his method of painting on Masonite boards in the standard size of 122×122 cm. This format has subsequently almost become his signature, but it in reality it is simply half the standard size of 122×244 cm boards found at the timber merchants. During this period, Kirkeby also often uses ordinary bicycle varnish in his paintings, a product that can be bought almost everywhere. The work here is exemplary of Per Kirkeby's painting in the 1960s: a clear play between flatness and spatiality; between the glossy, ordinary bicycle varnish and the underlying, expressive brushstrokes. The work is figurative in several layers yet also abstract. The female figure is varied and repeated over and over again, like a set piece or a clipping from a fashion magazine.