Else Alfelt – Mountain Peaks, Moons and Dreamscapes
Together with her life partner, the artist Carl-Henning Pedersen, Else Alfelt (1910-74) became part of the circle of experimental artists in Denmark in the mid-1930s, which would later represent the core of CoBrA. Together with Sonja Ferlov Mancoba, Alfelt was one of the group's few female members. Like her colleagues, she was strongly influenced in her political views by the social issues of the time and the rise of Nazism. The home of Else Alfelt and Carl-Henning Pedersen became a meeting place for both the Danish and international CoBrA artists.
"Everything is movement – attraction – repulsion – we do not conquer anything – we ourselves are a Part – in a Space with Planets, Suns and Moons – the Sun Wheel rolls for us (...) In the Centre is the whirling Life – New Worlds created by opposing movements (…).”
Else Alfelt, "The Flower of the Universe" (1966).
Else Alfelt worked within four types of expression: watercolours, oil paintings, mosaics and poetry. Her idiom was abstract but differed from CoBrA's often more spontaneous approach. Based on a constant dialogue with nature and a belief in the rich potential of colour, she created her own distinctive visual language, where the light, the mountains, the moon and the sun became pervasive motifs. These motifs often dissolve into crystalline movements, while sinuous and straight lines break the picture surface. She herself called her works a lyrical perception of the world and said on several occasions that she wanted to convey her sense of the universe, eternity and the beauty of the world. Harmony and repetition became guidelines, and Else Alfelt's artwork rise above time and place and invite contemplation rather than provocation.
This contemplative expression stands in contrast to Else Alfelt’s rough start to life. She spent her childhood in a religious orphanage with strict rules of upbringing. But it was also here that the burgeoning interest in art was awakened in her, and as a 12-year-old she began to paint portraits of the other children and the employees at the orphanage. To learn the art of drawing, she took an education at the Technical School, and as a young person she spent much of her time in museums, where she copied the old masters. Her longing to experience the world was strong throughout her life, and she found inspiration on many trips to Lapland, Greece, Italy, Turkey, the USA and Japan, among other places. Else Alfelt regularly exhibited in Denmark and Scandinavia, but also at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh and at the Galérie de France in Paris. As a tribute to the artist couple, the Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt Museum opened in 1976 in Herning.
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