This large landscape painting by Storm P previously belonged to the owner of a factory in the Danish food industry and hung on the wall of the factory canteen for 25-30 years. After the director’s death, the company was sold to an owner outside Denmark, and the painting was taken down and put up at auction. Kofoed’s School on the island of Amager in Copenhagen expressed a desire to have the painting on display, and with funds from the New Carlsberg Foundation it was possible to acquire the piece and thus place it into a relevant social context where it would meet a large audience. The painting is now up in the school canteen.

Kofoed’s School is a humanitarian institution that was founded in 1928 with the purpose of providing support to vulnerable groups in society. The school works with socially marginalized individuals, offering help for self-help to empower them to play an active role in improving their own living conditions. The school has branches in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg, which are frequented annually by some 4,000 individuals of more than 100 nationalities. Some of the main user groups are homeless youths, psychologically vulnerable welfare recipients and Greenlanders with substance abuse issues.

Sympathy for the vagabond

Art plays an important role at the school, where the students can take art workshops supervised by experienced artists, and the school’s walls feature works by leading Danish names: HuskMitNavn has created outside murals, and indoors, the users and staff can enjoy works by Henry Heerup and Hans Scherfig, among others.  

The school’s director, Robert Olsen, explains why Storm P’s landscape painting is so appropriate for the school:

‘We see the painting as symbolic of Denmark, and as such it will serve as a friendly introduction to the Danes and Denmark for the many nationalities who come here on a daily basis. Moreover, the painting depicts the vagabond, the socially marginalized individual, whom Storm P was very sympathetic to.’