Robert Jacobsen

Robert Jacobsen is a Danish sculptor and painter, born on 4th of June, 1912 in Copenhagen and died on 26th January, 1993. A self-taught artist, he didn't receive any artistic training,and did many odd jobs during his youth.

After the war, he moved to Paris and joined an active group of abstract artists, who gravitated around the Denis René Gallery. He gradually gave up wood then stone for welded and forged iron. He is what he had to say about this: "Welding was my luck. This is how I became an iron artist. That's all, there is no need to embellish or invent beautiful stories. With stone, you drift between forms. With iron, you are aware of the form, you choose the space".

Jacobsen's talent led him to create wonderful abstract statues with sheets of metal, a style which can give a crude look, but as far as his work was concerned, on the contrary the creation of volumes create shade and emptiness creates rare harmony, which triggers thinking.
Jacobsen works metal through a very peculiar technique, which allows him to retain the raw aspect. He hammers and forges cold metal and reveals the abundance of relationships with emptiness, which animate the forms.

He organized his first exhibition in 1950, and received the Biennial grand prix of Venice in 1966. During the 70's, he came back to Denmark to honor public orders. An imposing stature of the artist is exhibited on a permanent basis, in front of the Copenhagen train station.