Mogens Møller (28 November 1934 – 16 June 2021Den minimalistiske billedkunstner Mogens Møller er død - 86 år
) was a Danish

Minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

sculptor and painter who has designed a number of large public works and created the portrait of Queen Margrethe on Danish coins.

Biography

Born in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, Møller studied at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts ( da, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi - Billedkunst Skolerne) has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Dani ...

under

Gottfred Eickhoff Gottfred Eickhoff (11 April 1902 in Frederiksberg – 26 July 1982) was a Danish sculptor. Inspired by French trends, his work contrasted with that of his predecessors, exhibiting a spirit of harmony, peace and balance. Early life After matricula ...

and

Richard Mortensen Richard Mortensen (23 October 1910 – 6 January 1993) was a Danish painter. Biography Richard Strange Mortensen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. He studied between 1931 and 1932 at the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Influenced by the ...

(1962–66). In the 1960s, together with

Hein Heinsen Hein Olaf Heinsen (born July 23, 1935 in Grindsted, Denmark) is a Danish artist who has contributed to the Lutheran art Lutheran art consists of all religious art produced for Lutherans and the Lutheran churches. This includes sculpture, painti ...

and

Stig Brøgger Stig Brøgger (8 December 1941 – 8 February 2021) was a Danish artist who worked with sculpture, painting, installations and photography. His aims have always been to show how art contributes to man's experience of life and his understanding of t ...

, he was one of those who brought American trends in

Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

to Denmark. Working towards an improved perception of space, they produced a number of rectilinear works including ''Fire kvadradiske rammer'' (Four Square Frames, 1966) and ''Fredens Port'' (Gate of Peace, 1982). Møller then moved into sculpture where he could better represent mass media's

oversimplification The fallacy of the single cause, also known as complex cause, causal oversimplification, causal reductionism, and reduction fallacy, is an informal fallacy of questionable cause that occurs when it is assumed that there is a single, simple cause of ...

of a complex world. In 1980, he completed his ''Stjerne, Stjerneport og Stjernefragment'' (Star, Star Gate and Star Fragment), a decoration for

Aalborg University Aalborg University (AAU) is a Danish public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen founded in 1974. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subjects within humanities ...

. The open star represents a quest for dialogue, a theme which often characterizes his work. The portrait of Queen Margrethe on Danish 10 and 20 kroner coins since 2001 is the work of Mogens Møller. From 2004 to 2007, together with Heinsen and Brøgger, he carried out comprehensive decoration work at the Ollerup School of Gymnastics on the island of

Funen Funen ( da, Fyn, ), with an area of , is the third-largest island of Denmark, after Zealand and Vendsyssel-Thy. It is the 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in the central part of the country and has a population of 469,947 as of ...

. From 1989 to 1998, Møller was a professor of sculpture at the

Awards

In 1988, Møller was awarded the

Eckersberg Medal The Eckersberg Medal (originally the ''Akademiets Aarsmedaille'' or Annual Academy Medal) is an annual award of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. It is named after Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, known as the father of Danish painting. The Ec ...

and, in 1994, the

Thorvaldsen Medal The Thorvaldsen Medal (Danish: Thorvaldsens Medalje, Thorvaldsen Medaillen) is awarded annually with few exceptions to a varying number of recipients by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is its highest distinction within the visual arts. It ...

References

Literature

* *Møller, Mogens; Neergaard, Ulrikke; The Bunker Secret Society; Dahlin, Dorte; Havshøj, Jane; Nefer Olsen, Kasper; Hornung, Peter Michael; Bukdahl, Else Marie (2016)
VÆRK
Strandberg Publishing. ISBN 978-87-92894-72-4.

External links

Illustrated list of works by Mogens Møller in Danish museums from Kunstindeks DanmarkExamples of Danish coins with Queen Margrethe's portrait designed by Mogens MøllerMogens Møller's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moller, Mogens 1934 births 2021 deaths Danish sculptors Minimalist artists Painters from Copenhagen Sculptors from Copenhagen Recipients of the Thorvaldsen Medal Recipients of the Eckersberg Medal Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni Academic staff of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts