Bonhams Presents the Art Collection of Architect Henning Larsen & Author Lone Backe at Bruun Rasmussen

The intersection of architectural form and fine art takes center stage at Bonhams as the personal collection of the celebrated Danish architect Henning Larsen and author Lone Backe is offered at Bruun Rasmussen. This curated selection of paintings, works on paper, and modern design reflects a lifetime of visual discipline and aesthetic curiosity. Scheduled to end on 8 October 2026, the auction provides a rare glimpse into the private environment of one of Scandinavia's most influential architectural minds, whose eye for structure, color, and light is mirrored in the artworks that adorned his personal spaces. The official Bonhams auction catalog identifies the sale as an assembled testament to their shared lives and creative pursuits, serving as the definitive record for this single-owner collection.

Leading the auction is an exceptional early modernist work by Swedish painter Isaac Grünewald, titled "At the beach, c. 1917." This oil on canvas, measuring 86 x 130 cm, is a brilliant example of the artist's pioneering expressionist style, capturing the leisure and shifting light of the coast with bold, fluid brushstrokes and a vibrant palette. The painting carries an estimate of DKK 1,000,000^[2] to DKK 1,200,000^[2]. The piece has a distinguished exhibition history, having been featured in major museum retrospectives dedicated to the avant-garde circle of Sigrid Hjertén and Isaac Grünewald in both Sweden and Denmark during the early years of the twenty-first century. Its provenance includes notable Swedish private collections and appearances at major Scandinavian and international auction houses, marking it as a centerpiece of early twentieth-century Nordic modernism.

Complementing the Swedish avant-garde is a classic Danish modernist work by Vilhelm Lundstrøm. His "Still life, 1943/1944," an unsigned oil on canvas measuring 50 x 61 cm, is estimated at DKK 300,000 to DKK 400,000. Lundstrøm's work is celebrated for its geometric simplification of everyday objects, a style that heavily influenced Danish mid-century design and architecture. The clean lines, volumetric forms, and deliberate spatial relationships in this still life would have naturally resonated with Larsen's architectural sensibilities, which prioritized structural clarity and functional beauty.

The collection also bridges the gap between mid-century modernism and contemporary Danish art, exemplified by Tal R's monumental canvas "The Looooook." Painted in the artist's signature expressive and textured style, this oil on canvas measures 200 x 200 cm and is estimated at DKK 300,000 to DKK 400,000. Signed and dated on both the front and reverse, the piece has been exhibited at prominent galleries in Berlin and Tokyo, representing the international reach of contemporary Danish painting and adding a bold, colorful energy to the collection's narrative.

Works on paper form another significant pillar of the Larsen and Backe collection, featuring masterworks by global icons of the twentieth century. Pablo Picasso is represented by two distinct drawings. The first, "Scène de corrida," executed in ink on paper and signed in the winter of the mid-twentieth century, measures 18 x 24.2 cm and carries an estimate of DKK 300,000 to DKK 350,000. This dynamic drawing is documented in the definitive Zervos catalogue raisonné and Jaime Sabartés's celebrated publication on Picasso's bullfighting imagery. The second Picasso work, "La colombe volant, 1950," is a delicate blue crayon drawing of a flying dove, measuring 19 x 15 cm, estimated at DKK 200,000 to DKK 250,000. Additionally, a pastel, crayon, and pencil work by the legendary architect and artist Le Corbusier, titled "Deux femmes nues" and dated to the early nineteen-thirties, is estimated at DKK 200,000 to DKK 225,000, illustrating the direct connection between architectural pioneers and the fine art movements of their time.