Danish painter and theoretician, born in Copenhagen. Studied at the Academy of Art in Copenhagen, 1931-32. Spent year 1932 in Berlin. 1933 First public show of his works at the Autumn exhibition, in Copenhagen. 1934-35 Joint publisher of the magazine Linien. 1947 Moved to Paris, Normandy, the South of France and Corsica. Won both the Edvard Munch Prize and the Kandinsky Prize in 1946. 1955-64 Participation in "documenta 1", in Kassel. Originally influenced by the surrealist works of Dali and Tanguy, in the 50s Mortensen took up free gestural painting. The spontaneity and fantasy of these later works is reminiscent of the art of the Cobra group.
