Borgen Publishers
One of the great and fabulous decorations in which colours and the function of the building are completely interwoven. Borgen Publishers were the artists’ publisher, and Jarl Borgen was famous on the Copenhagen art scene. When Borgen took over the house, Poul Gernes came out and did a colour scheme. Together with Aase and Ulrikka, he painted the whole thing before the publishing company moved in.
The yellow colours in the grand staircase captured the sunlight in the centre of the building. From here, the decoration spread, labyrinthine, with hand-painted borders and dots, out into corridors, doors, workspaces, meeting rooms, and down into the green canteen in the basement. This was a prodigious jumble of books, people, activities and Jarl Borgen’s large collection of contemporary art. Glorious!
Finn Thybo Andersen: Poul Gernes Decoration Projects. London 2018, p. 374. Translated by Dan A. Marmorstein. Excerpt.
