Asger Nielsen, Commemorative words. Nov 18th 2021

It is with great sadness that we must announce that Jørgen Haugen Sørensen is dead.

Jørgen was by far the greatest sculptor of his generation - and probably also in addition to Thorvaldsen one of the greatest we have ever had in this country. Jørgen was wild, uncompromising, intelligent, stubborn and cheeky like a butcher dog. Jørgen was the embodiment of the art history of the post-war period; an almost incomprehensible human condensate of lived life, stories, experiences, impressions and experiences. Jørgen could be insightful, compassionate and gentle. Jørgen could be tough, unforgiving and stubborn. For Jørgen was a human being, a large and versatile human being who was just able to accommodate the paradoxes of life.

The last book is hardly written about Jørgen's artistic work. Like his personality, it was headstrong and multifaceted and impossible to put in stalls. Jørgen was a master designer; his hands were able to do things not thought possible. And always with an apparent lightness that not even a lifetime exercise can impart to a human being. Jørgen's abilities did not spring from diligence alone, but depended at least as much on a natural virtuosity, an innate understanding of matter that we other mortals can only dream of.

But now Jørgen is still dead, and he has left us here, and our thoughts are with his family, his beloved Eli, his children and his grandchildren - and all the people he has touched through life, many of whom also became his friends. Today it is unbearable that we have to talk about Jørgen in those days. But Jørgen is still here too, and Jørgen will continue to be here. If not in his own tall person, then in his art, which still towers in squares and parks, in private and public spaces and in museums around both Denmark and the rest of the world. For Jørgen was a world man, an artistic cosmopolitan, who has left lasting traces in the ground. We'll miss you, Jørgen.

Honor be your memory.