Rita Kernn-Larsen (1 January 1904 – 10 April 1998) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

painter. She was born to a wealthy family in

Hillerød Hillerød () is a Denmark, Danish town with a population of 35,357 (1 January 2022)Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, she attended 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 ...

to fine-tune her craft, but found the teachings there to be too traditional. Instead, she moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and joined

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

's academy, studying under him until 1933, when she returned to Denmark and opened up her own studio. Throughout the 1930s, Kernn-Larsen's style moved from a more decorative style to surrealism. She regularly attended exhibitions as one of the only female surreal artists, including the

London International Surrealist Exhibition The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries, near Savile Row in London's Mayfair, England. Organisers The exhibition was organised by committees from England, France, Belgium, Scand ...

in 1936. In 1937, Kernn-Larsen moved back to Paris and met

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with t ...

, who opened a solo exhibition for her the following year in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She remained in London throughout the war years with her husband, Jewish art dealer Isak Grünberg. At that time she departed from surrealism, focusing on a more real approach to her paintings during the war. After the war, Kernn-Larsen moved to

Saint-Jeannet, Alpes-Maritimes Saint-Jeannet (; oc, Sant Joanet) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France. Population Tourism Saint-Jeannet is one of sixteen villages grouped together by the Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur tourist department as ...

, France, using the Southern French landscape as a motif for her later paintings. She lived there from 1947 to 1992, and while there worked with ceramics, and published a children's book, ''The Golden Village''. She continued to attend exhibitions primarily in Denmark, with her last one being a retrospective in 1995 at Randers Art Museum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kernn-Larsen, Rita Danish surrealist artists 1904 births 1998 deaths Women surrealist artists 20th-century Danish women artists 20th-century Danish artists 20th-century Danish painters People from Hillerød Municipality Surrealist artists