Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum (CHPEA): Art that speaks to the world from the heart of Jutland

By Signe Hansen

In the heart of Jutland lies a place where art, fantasy and architecture merge with captivating results. At the Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum, visitors are immersed in a fairytale world created by two of Denmark’s greatest COBRA artists. Their imaginative works speak to universal human experiences, and now, with the museum’s first major travelling exhibition touring the world, their message is reaching new audiences.

Even before stepping inside, visitors at the Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum (CHPEA) in Herning are greeted by spectacular psychedelic colour displays and immersive art experiences. Created by Carl-Henning Pedersen, the museum’s mosaic facade and a vast ceramic frieze transcend the boundaries between art, exteriors and architecture.

Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum (CHPEA): Art that speaks to the world from the heart of Jutland

Detail of The Play of Imagination around the Wheel of Life. Photo: Ralf T. Søndergaard

Once Europe’s largest artwork, The Play of Imagination around the Wheel of Life, a 1,000-square-metre masterpiece, wraps around spectators in a spectacular display of colour and form. Stepping inside, guests enter an immersive universe where fantasy, symbolism, and storytelling come together. The frieze, created in the 1960s, reflects Pedersen’s belief in art as a total experience. Since 2020, it has been accompanied by Ophav, an evocative sound installation by composer Ditte Rønn featuring Herning Church’s boys’ choir. The result is a deeply sensory journey that blurs the boundaries between visual art and sound, past and present.

“The COBRA artists created art that speaks across time and borders. Their works address universal, human themes – ideas that remain deeply relevant today,” museum director Lotte Korshøj explains. “The frieze is a completely unique space, and I have personally never come across anything like it. You step into this 360-degree artwork surrounding you – above is the blue sky, below is the grass, and you are standing right in the middle of this circular universe.

Out in the open, the artwork and the sound work come to life in new ways, changing its mood with the seasons and weather.

Visitors at the Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum are greeted by spectacular psychedelic colour displays. © Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum

A unique artistic language

Created as part of the post-war COBRA movement, the vivid, imaginative works of Pedersen and Alfelt continue to resonate far beyond Denmark’s borders. The two artists met in Elsinore in the early 1930s and married shortly after. It was Alfelt who introduced Pedersen to painting, and together they developed distinctive yet complementary artistic languages.

Pedersen became known for his colourful, spontaneous works populated with fantastical figures, animals and symbols. His style was deeply rooted in the idea that art should spring from the subconscious and the free imagination. Else Alfelt, meanwhile, was inspired by nature and spirituality, creating luminous, poetic works.

Founded in 1976, CHPEA was created thanks to Carl-Henning Pedersen’s wish to donate his art to the public. In the 1960s, he offered 1,000 of his works to any municipality willing to build a museum. When Else Alfelt passed away before its opening, her works were added to the collection, forming an exceptional artistic dialogue between the two.

Today, CHPEA houses over 6,000 works by Pedersen and Alfelt, and its collection reflects the artists’ global outlook and the COBRA movement’s boundary-breaking approach.

Photo from the exhibition Eventyrlig Dialog at Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum. Photo: Ralf T. Søndergaard

Reaching a new audience

The recent launch of Cosmic Dimensions, a five-year travelling retrospective of their works, marks a milestone for the museum and its ambition to reach a worldwide audience. This May, the exhibition opened at Kunstsilo in Kristiansand, Norway – recently nominated as the world’s most beautiful museum – marking the start of its five-year journey. The exhibition, featuring 150 works by Pedersen and Alfelt, is the first full retrospective of the two artists to travel internationally.

“The exhibition shows their development from the 1930s onwards,” explains Finn Poulsen, head of the museum board. “It includes major works from the COBRA years, as well as pieces never before shown outside Denmark.”

After closing in Kristiansand at the end of August, the exhibition will travel on to Lübeck’s St. Annen Museum in Germany, bringing the visionary spirit of COBRA to new European audiences. The travelling exhibition is a natural extension of CHPEA’s mission to make its collection accessible.

“We want the works to go out into the world,” says Poulsen. “Art plays an important role in society – it can inspire debate, reflection, and imagination. That was Carl-Henning Pedersen’s vision, and we continue to build on it today.”

Photo from the exhibition Cosmic Dimensions at Kunstsilo. Photo: © Kunstsilo

A royal touch

As CHPEA approaches its 50th anniversary in 2026, it is committed to renewing and expanding its relevance. The museum is working to make its entire collection accessible online, enabling anyone, anywhere, to explore Pedersen and Alfelt’s works. This ambition is part of a broader effort to ensure the collection remains dynamic and connected to contemporary society.

“Our aim is to keep the museum alive and relevant,” says Korshøj. “It is not a mausoleum, but a living place with themes we can all relate to today.”

This vision is also reflected in the museum’s permanent exhibition Eventyrlig Dialog, which pairs Pedersen’s works with sculptures by the late Prince Henrik of Denmark. Originally created with the prince’s involvement, the exhibition continues to attract new audiences, many of whom are experiencing art in a museum setting for the first time.

Carl-Henning Pedersen, Komposition, 1939. © Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum. Photo: Ralf T. Søndergaard | Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum (CHPEA): Art that speaks to the world from the heart of Jutland

A universal language

At the core of the museum’s appeal is, however, the deeply resonant universal language that remains in Pedersen and Alfelt’s works. While Else Alfelt explored the timeless stability of nature – painting mountains as symbols of the eternal – Pedersen’s spontaneous, colourful paintings were created with the belief that art from the depths of the soul can speak directly to others.

Carl-Henning Pedersen’s, Himmelflugten, 1967 © Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum. Photo: Ralf T. Søndergaard | Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum (CHPEA): Art that speaks to the world from the heart of Jutland

“Else Alfelt focused on our place in the cosmos, reminding us that we are just small parts of something much bigger,” says Korshøj. “And Carl-Henning Pedersen believed that if we can speak from the innermost part of ourselves, we can touch that same place in others.”

Indeed, CHPEA is a place where the human spirit thrives in its essence, and imagination knows no limits. Visitors can spend a day immersed in art, fantasy, and creativity – and round off their journey with an invigorating coffee and moment of reflection in the museum café.

Else Alfelt’s work Fjellet II created in 1945. © Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelts Museum. Photo: Ralf T. Søndergaard | Carl-Henning Pedersen & Else Alfelt Museum (CHPEA): Art that speaks to the world from the heart of Jutland

Carl-Henning Pedersen in front of his ceramic masterpiece The Play of Imagination around the Wheel of Life, 1966–68. Photo: Finn Roosted

Web: www.chpeamuseum.dk

Carl-Henning Pedersen (1913–2007) and Else Alfelt (1910–1974) were key figures in Danish modernism and the international COBRA movement.

In 1976, the museum opened its doors to a collection of 6,000 works by Carl-Henning Pedersen and Else Alfelt.

Since opening, the museum has been expanded several times, including in 2015, when it was extended with an underground hallway leading to the Angli courtyard, where Pedersen’s monumental frieze The Play of Imagination around the Wheel of Life is located.

The Museum is situated in Birk Centerpark, in the eastern part of Herning. Birk offers a variety of cultural experiences including a sculpture park and The Geometrical Gardens.

Museum opening hours:

Tuesday - Sunday 10am-4pm