Born in Copenhagen into an impoverished working-class family, Carl-Henning Pedersen (1913–2007) originally aspired to become a composer, an encounter with the artist Else Alfelt (1910– 1974) led Pedersen to artmaking. He met Alfelt at Den Internationale Højskole in Helsingør in 1933 and she introduced him to painting, becoming his teacher. The couple married in 1934 and both débuted at Kunstnernes Efterårsudstilling in Copenhagen in 1936.
Continuing his self-driven artistic education, in 1939, Pedersen hitchhiked through war-torn Europe to see the works of Picasso and Matisse in Paris. He returned on foot, detouring via Frankfurt to see one of the Nazi “degenerate” art exhibitions where he encountered modernists who would greatly influence him, including Paul Klee. During the war, Pedersen was part of the artistic community around Helhesten, a radical journal weaponizing modern art and culture in the fight against Nazi occupation. Springing out of this community, Pedersen was part of the foundation of the CoBrA movement in 1948 alongside Asger Jorn. He and Alfelt remained central members until the group disbanded in 1951.This short, sharp burst of artistic and intellectual activity would go on to shape Pedersen’s and many other members’ careers.
As Pedersen struck out on his own, his national and international recognition grew. In 1958, he was a recipient of the Guggenheim International Award. A retrospective at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh followed in 1961. In 1962, he was chosen to represent Denmark at the Venice Biennale. In Denmark, he completed several prestigious large-scale commissions, including a monumental mosaic for the H.C. Ørsted Institute, finished in 1964, and the decoration of Ribe Cathedral, completed in 1987.
Following Alfelt’s death in 1974, the Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt Museum in Herning opened to the public in 1976. This was the culmination of Pedersen’s career long ambition to allow as many people as possible to see his work.Pedersen met his second wife, the photographer Sidsel Ramson, in 1975. The couple purchased the home of former fellow CoBrA member Karel Appel outside the village of Molsmes in Burgundy in 1977. These later “French years” would be among Pedersen’s most productive.