Decoration

Four folding doors were produced and decorated for the foyer of Herlev Hospital. Two of the folding doors, which covered the entrances to a bank and a hairdresser on the balcony floor, were removed around 2003 in connection with the closure of these shops. The two remaining doors, which covered the entrances to a kiosk and a flower shop on the ground floor, still retained their original 1976 paintings as of 2015. 

However, 40 years of daily use had caused significant damage to the paintings and considerable wear to the doors’ locking mechanisms. Due to the poor condition of the doors, restoration was deemed economically unviable, and it was decided instead to create a reconstruction of the doors for installation at the hospital. The original doors were subsequently handed over to the Museum of Art in Public Spaces.

In a conversation with Poul Gernes’ daughter, Ulrikka Gernes, she recalled how, as a child, she saw the fiberboard panels for the doors being painted at their home. Poul Gernes used a stencil technique. First, the boards were primed with white paint, followed by the application of the background color with a paint roller. After drying, the stencil with the decorative pattern was placed on top of the background color, and the pattern was painted in a different color, also using a paint roller. The finished, decorated panels were then transported to the hospital and mounted on the folding doors.

Ulrikka’s childhood memories align with observations made during close studies of the doors’ paintings. The characteristic “orange peel texture” on the surface indicates the use of a paint roller. The “fuzzy” edges reveal how the paint seeped slightly under the stencil.

Each side of a door consists of six panels measuring 130 x 250 cm. When the doors are closed, each door side forms a single decorative surface of approximately 20 m². Each door side features four different colors, with the six panels using the same color for the decorative pattern and three different shades for the background. Thus, a total of 16 different colors were used across the four door sides.

The pigment analysis results show that the number of pigments used was very limited. Among classic inorganic pigments, only chrome yellow and chrome orange were used. In addition, titanium white was present in all paint layers, serving both as a toner and a filler. Most of the pigments are of the type known as SOPs (synthetic organic pigments).

It is worth noting that no actual green pigments were used. The green shades were instead created by mixing blue and yellow pigments. This method of producing green by mixing blue and yellow is not uncommon for economic reasons.

Since the newly reconstructed doors were completed and installed in 2017, a significant change has occurred. In 2018, 7-Eleven took over the lease for the two shops, which were then converted into one larger store. Because the new 7-Eleven store is open 24/7, it was deemed unnecessary to retain Poul Gernes’ decorated folding doors. As a result, they have now been removed.

While the new store’s extended hours undoubtedly benefit many, it is puzzling that the artwork could be removed without consideration for the hospital’s cultural heritage, especially after resources were invested in recreating a work that was dismantled so shortly after its installation.