Provenance: Ordrup Gymnasium (Ordrup High School, Copenhagen).

The colour scheme of Ordrup High School originates from a theme week in the autumn of 1989. The school was in dire need of a paint job; but since Copenhagen County did not have the necessary funds, the school itself decided to do something about it. The company Dyrup sponsored the paint and Poul Gernes and his collaborators Eva Karin Thomsen and Henrik Norn decided on the colour scheme. Under their leadership the students and teachers began to wash down, scrape, fill holes, paint and make decorations.

Poul Gernes' fundamental artistic idea with the painting of Ordrup High School was that you have the best opportunity to learn something in an environment where you thrive; and you thrive in rooms where the decor has been carefully considered, and where there are bright colours that capture the light. Poul Gernes basically insisted on that colours like the ones used on Ordrup High School were the way to achieve higher grades.