Ib Geertsen (7 January 1919 – 3 June 2009) was a Danish painter and sculptor. He began as a Naturalist but later turned to Concrete art.^[1]

Biography

Born in Copenhagen, Geertsen first trained as a gardener (1934–39) before concentrating on art in which he was self-taught. In 1937, he associated with Thorvald Hansen and other painters from Aalborg, developing an interest in Naturalism and painting dark still lifes and landscapes inspired by Paul Cézanne and Amedeo Modigliani.^[2]

In 1943, he moved to Copenhagen adopting a more spontaneous impasto, surrealistic technique in his painting. In 1947, he was a co-founded of the Linien II artists association, which concentrated on concrete art.^[2] He developed an approach based on rounded areas with solid colouring which he employed in decorations for schools and hospitals in Næstved, Aalborg and Copenhagen in accordance with a precise colour scheme. Works consisting of circles and squares became his widely recognized idiom. Later he created a variety of mobile and hanging works, decorating the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (1980) and the concert hall in Statens Museum for Kunst (1998).^[1]

Awards

In 1978, Geertsen was awarded the Eckersberg Medal and, in 1991, the Thorvaldsen Medal.^[1]