Utzon, ”The one I learned the most from”

Carl Kyhlberg “was not fond of letting in other painters because he feared that they would steal his ideas; but he liked to converse with me because I was an architect,” J?rn Utzon says about his biggest inspiration. Utzon even describes the Swedish painter as “the one I learned the most from.”

Self-portrait by Kyhlberg.

“As architects, we have to view the task without bias. My friend Carl Kyhlberg said: ‘Please hang up the preconceived ideas and the coats in the wardrobe,’ before he let people into his study.”

Working with light

Utzon visited the painter’s study many times and found a huge source of inspiration in Kyhlberg’s works - the focus on the glowing light, the guide of nature, the sea and the sky, and the tree that grows towards the light. These elements inspired Utzon and taught him to view the light as a construction material and to immerse himself in the momentary situations in nature.

“Carl pointed to his most important source – the ability to experience nature – as the element that opened up to the great richness in his poetical painting,” says J?rn Utzon about the world renowned painter.

“I learned from Carl [Kyhlberg] that as an architect I had same possibilities as he had with his painting.” – J?rn Utzon

“With his pictures, Carl brought to life various aspects of the mind`s conditions. The clarity and unambiguity existing between the pictures and the titles he gave them made me realise that in my buildings I had to fashion space and lights in such a way that people felt there was harmony between what they surrounded themselves with and what they were doing in the building, whether the task was to support the odd maritime mind`s lonely absorption with the form and light of the space or whether it was intended to put the mind into a state of expectation on the way through a building to some great festive common experience.”

Utzon drew an additional building to Kyhlberg’s house in Aalsg?rde, Denmark in 1940. See more pictures at www.utzonphotos.com.

This piece is the first in a series on Utzon's nordic inspirations. More to come.