Heerup and nature investigates how nature—as motif, workplace, and social space—can provide a new understanding of the art of Henry Heerup. Combining art historical analysis with perspectives from ecocriticism and the environmental humanities, the project asks how Heerup’s work can contribute to contemporary discussions about nature, materiality, reuse, and the relationship between humans and their environment.
Henry Heerup is one of the most widely recognised and beloved Danish artists of the twentieth century. Scholarship on his work has often been shaped by a divide between interpreting him as either a naïve artist or a surrealist. This project moves beyond that dichotomy by exploring the connections between his artworks, his choice of materials, and the distinctive artistic practice that unfolded through his motifs, working methods, and outdoor studios.
A central point of departure is the pastoral tradition—a long-standing concept in art and literary history in which nature functions as a space of immediate presence as well as community and reflection. From this perspective, the project analyses Heerup’s paintings, prints, stone sculptures, and sculptures created from discarded materials. It also examines his outdoor studios – his “gardens” – in Vanløse and Rødovre as sites of artistic production, social gathering, and experimentation, where artworks, people, animals, and landscape interacted in close dialogue.
Particular attention is given to Heerup’s use of materials. Granite, construction debris, old trays, masonite boards, and other discarded objects were transformed into artworks imbued with new life and meaning. Viewed through contemporary ecocritical perspectives, this practice raises questions about resource use, transformation, and the relationship between nature and culture—issues that are more pressing today than ever before.
The project aims not only to contribute new scholarship on Heerup’s oeuvre but also to explore how art can inspire new ways of thinking about climate, the environment, and sustainability. It therefore combines art historical research with dialogical forms of public engagement, developing activities in which Heerup’s work serves as a point of departure for reflecting on contemporary environmental challenges.
The research project is based at DPU, Aarhus University, and is carried out in collaboration with the Heerup Museum.
