Richard Mortensen | collages
11 June to 25 July 2026 open each Saturday 2-6 + by appointment
Rocket presents the first ever solo London exhibition of the Danish modernist icon Richard Mortensen. The exhibition comprises fifteen collages made by Mortensen in the last two years of his life and never before exhibited. The collages had remained in his architect-designed studio since his death in 1993.
The collages are demanding; the viewer is forced to make an effort. But the effort is rewarded, as the viewer
grasps the exquisite balance between colour and form. Again displaying his sure touch – and avoiding any
suggestion of the banal – Mortensen fully exploits these two basic components. The mastery is obvious. Jens S Bork
Now more than eighty years old he works energetically . . . giving spontaneity and compositional discipline an equilibrium. Here the concrete forms are shown with the artist’s own rhythm of life in harmony. The master’s
old age is filled with happy activity without languor. It seems as if all the years of the past and their experiences
are crystallized and filtered in the grand suite of collages created in his studio by the sea. Teddy Brunius, 1991
Richard Mortensen (Danish, 1910–1993) was the most famous abstract painter in post-war Denmark. He participated in the influential Documenta II (1959) and Documenta III (1964) which confirmed his place in post-war European modernism. In 1960 the new Danish Pavilion at the 3oth Venice Biennale was opened with a retrospective of Mortensen’s paintings.
On Mortensen’s death the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen presented the first posthumous retrospective in 1994 and 250 works from the Charlotte & Richard Mortensen Foundation were accepted on permanent loan by the Museum in 1995. During his lifetime Mortensen’s works were collected by many major institutions including: Trapholt Museum, Kolding; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen; and Centre Pompidou, Paris.
In 2024 ARoS, Aarhus, Denmark presented the first major retrospective for three decades: Mortensen – Between Lines, which highlighted the artist’s continued relevance today.
In 2026 the Department of Prints & Drawings of the British Museum, London purchased Mortensen’s 1960 set of screenprints Suite de Six from Rocket and it was included in the major Scandinavian printmaking exhibition Nordic Noir, curated by Jennifer Ramkalawon.
This exhibition marks the representation of the Estate of Richard Mortensen by Rocket Gallery.
Preview on Thursday 11 June 2026 from 6-8 with drinks served
click to view the exhibited works click for exhibition press release click to view artist profile on Artsy