Henry Heerup

Henry Heerup (4 November 1907 – 30 May 1993) was a painter and sculptor born in Frederiksberg, Denmark.

He studied painting under Axel Jørgensen and Einar Nielsen at the Royal Danish Academy of Art. He also studied sculpture there under Einar Utzon-Frank. He painted The Old Oak in Wolfvalley in 1924. This was his first oil painting.

Henry Heerup married Emilie Westh in 1933. During the 1930s he developed his trash sculptures. During the 1940s he became a member ofCorner and Høst and exhibited with them.

In 1949 he joined COBRA and participated in some of their exhibitions. He developed an international reputation exhibiting across Europe and North America. The film A Year with Henry was made by Jens Jørgen Thorsen and Jørgen Roos and premiered in 1967. Heerup was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1968. He was also awarded the Eckersberg Medal and the Thorvaldsen Medal, and received the Storm, P. Grant, and NL Stevns Grants.

On his death in 1993, Henry Heerup was interred in the Assistens Cemetery in the Nørrebro section of Copenhagen.