A prolific painter of abstraction and political activist, Asger Jorn was a founding member of Situationist International, a group of agitators linked to Marxism and other avant-garde philosophies with the goal of effecting major social and political changes. He was born in the village of Vejrum in northwest Jutland, Denmark to parents who were teachers and fundamentalist Christians, a philosophy Asger rebelled against increasingly as he got older. His father was killed in an automobile wreck when Asger was twelve years old. Three years later, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and he spent three months in treatment on the coast of Jutland. Shortly after that, he began painting, influenced by Danish artist Martin Kaa...