The painter Thomas Arnel fight for his life these days in a hospital. He has been an inspiration for me through my life, a great artist, a magnificent craftsman. Though he is not dead yet and hopefully will recover his illness, I feel urged to carve this rune for him.


He was born in 1922 in Copenhagen, but has lived his life in the city of Aarhus. His debut was in 1949 and he got his breakthrough at the 1953 Artist's Easter Exhibition, where he for many years participated. His work is represented in the major art museums in Denmark and abroad. He has exhibited in the USA and Britain and throughout Europe. He is the most outstanding danish surrealist. And creator of a special universe of poetry, women and very disturbing creatures. Always on elaborate bicycles:) Arnel has sold to a lot of prominent buyers including the Prince Concort Henri of Denmark, who bought 5 pieces for distribution among familymembers. The prince is said to have said:"Thomas Arnel is the greatest danish surrealist ever."


From early childhood he loved cartoons and has made a lot through the years. Started with small strips in magazines, illustrated "Treasure Island" and in later years he has made graphic novels about his hero Ofil, who has his adventures in deeply surreal surroundings.



His preferred medium is the scraperboard. A board covered in chalk and black verneer. You scrape through the black surface and the chalk appears, making it possible for you to make extremely fine lines. As opposite to wood carvings. He has made oilpaintings too, but always with the emphasis on the drawing and the story. I show you here some examples of scraperboard, pen and wood carving.



You can google Thomas Arnel and get more info. Mostly is in dansh I'm sorry to say. But maybe someday someone will write his bio in english. Thomas Arnel is a very mild mannered man, great sense of humour and irony. A "mensch". Thomas Arnel is my uncle and I copied him a lot growing up. We have always had the same preference for surrealism. But where Arnel is poetic I'm more brutal and german, I'm sad to say. Would like to have his poetic sense. I carve this rune, I, Torben, nephew of Thomas.

1. march 2010
I'm happy to say that the recent bulletins about Thomas Arnel are good. The fever has left him, the penicilin has kicked in. He has been up, and he has eaten some soup. The hospital is looking for a place where he can restitute. All in all good news. May he be stronger by the day.

12. march 2010
Thomas Arnel is now safely in a retreat where he is served delicious meals to fatten him up. He is still weak, but have his mind on a book on him, that interrested fans are working on.

19. april 2010
Thomas Arnel is now working together with his family and Claus Brusen on the book that will cover his entire lifestory. Great news and I'm looking forward to see the result. Claus Brusen has made a lot of exquisite artbooks through his outstanding publishinghouse.

21. april
Thomas Arnel caught pneumonia last week. He was too frail to fight it and died peacefully at the hospital in Aarhus last night 20.15. My condolences to his family. Our thoughts are with them these hard days.

29. april
Thomas Arnel's funeral was yesterday attended by family, friends and fans. And I'm pleased to say, that the ongoing project of making a book on Arnel is very much alive. I hope, we soon shall see a book with the ultimate bio and story of this great surrealist.

For years I’ve been making my work very meticulously. From an early age surrealism was appealing to me, especially Salvador Dali and his almost photographic execution of his works. He went into the art academy of Barcelona and shouted:”How do I paint a loaf of bread?”...or something like that.....he was interrested in the most accurate way of portraying things, so he could paint his visions without any flaws. The drawing, painting was just a way to depict the images in his mind. The life of the drawing or the human traces on canvas was irrelevant. And he had to let himself loose in the graphic work he did, or else I suspect, he would go totally dead. Quite the opposite of Picasso who was always experimenting, at least in his young days, and searching for new ways. One day we paint like David and on friday we make a goat-sculpture from some cans and a wooden chair. I tip my hat to that.....and my favorite Picasso quote:”If it all matches, it’s not interresting.” He is so right. If there is not one color that sticks out like a sore thumb, you’re only making decoration. And to quote myself:” Art or decoration?”


From the age of 18 I knew my path. I was a surrealist, old school, dedicated to photographic realism blended with some expressionistic feel. Starting out with pure automatic drawings ending in satirical work with surrealistic overtones. In all the years following I have had some blocks along the way, some dryspells. It’s hard always to be obliged to have an opinion and to draw that. Always to have an idea. Always telling a story. And always feeling like you’re cheating if you only enjoy painting for paintings sake. Always to use only your head and not your body. You can take salsa lessons of course, but it’s not the same. Although it’s great exercise, and when you have the perfect salsa partner, it’s borderline ecstasy.


Some days drawing was a tedious affair. But then one day in 2008 I took some old issues of New Yorker, a bottle of ink, a sabrebrush and some watercolors, sat down and made 6 portraits of people I admired on the stale pages of the magazine. I have always avoided painting portraits. I could not make good faces. Especially the noses. The whole geometry of the face was a pain the ass for me. Like Munch, who did not paint hands, because he couldn’t. Not like the arthistorians think, that it was on purpose. No, he could not make them right, the poor bugger. At least i can. And feet too. But faces. Hmmm. But the brush was dancing. And I made maybe 16 watercolors. I was lining them on the the floor and I knew something had happened. I was happy and tired. I knew something new had started. My wife stopped by and said:”This is great! it’s vibrant and determined. I like the hard, tough brushstrokes” But it was also the start of me loosing my grip on everything. And this ”griploosing” is causing me to work in all directions, never knowing where I´ll end up. Never knowing what the next painting is gonna be like and a big HELLO to my body. I am starting to feel my limbs again and the libido is improving, because of working in larger formats. Also outdoors, throwing canvasses on the ground and dance, dance, dance. Karel Appel is a great inspiration to me. The feel of standing 10 feet from a canvas and attack it. Really thrash it. That feels good. The sky is bluer. The grass is greener. Talk to you later on portraits....