Hans Christian Andersen was born on 2 April 1805 in Odense (Fünen) and died on 4 August 1875 in Kopenhagen. He was about 1,85 metres tall - 25 cm above the national average. The longlimbed tall man, the characteristic head with its deep-set eyes and the large nose did not come within the ideal of beauty that prevailed at the time. He was tought to be ugly, odd - yes, even repulsive - and his outward appearance attracted attention and made a clumsy, comical impression on most people. This, however, was only the initial impression. Those who got to know the writer more closely gained a different impression. They found his face full of life and wit, his figure stately and his bearing elegant.
The ArtThroughout his life, Hans Christian Andersen had a colossal imagination, something which the writer tought of as both, a great gift and a curse.
"I am like water, everything brings me in motion. Everything is mirrored in me. This must be part of my nature as a creative writer and often I have derived pleasure and blessing from it, although often it has also been a torment", the 50-year-old writer wrote to his friend Edvard Collin in 1855.
Apart from this authorship, H.C. Andersen also challenged his creativity in other fields than the purely literary. His papercuts and drawings are examples of his imagination and urge to create.
The papercuts
H.C. Andersen also used paper to cut out figures and motifs. The earliest preserved papercut dates from 1822 and the last one from the final year of the writer's life. He made papercuts for both, children and adults. He often told a story while cutting. When the story was over, he would unfold the paper as a kind of final salute, revealing the motif to his expectant listeners. Their enthusiasm for the papercut could often make the writer even happier than the impression the story had made on them.
FamilyH.C. Andersen's parents were extremely poor, living at the lowest leven of society. His father worked as a free shoemaker, i.e. outside a guild, and his mother was a washerwoman.
At that time, Denmark was an ally of France during the Napoleonic Wars. Out of necessity and in the hope of making a military career of himself, Hans Andersen enlisted in the army. He was stationed in Holstein from 1812 to the winter of 1814, but returned home a physical wreck. He died shortly afterwards, on 26 April 1816, only 33 years old.
The loss of the breadwinner was a financial disaster for the small family. His mother now had to redouble her efforts to earn enough money to put bread on the table.
The Life"It is like a voyage to some known point. - I stand at the rudder, I have chosen my path, - but God rules the storm and the sea. He may direct it otherwise; and then, happen what may, it will be the best for me ... my life will be the best illustration of all my work."
Hans Christian Andersen: The True Story of my Life, 1847
Dreams of becoming an artistOdense theatre was the centre of the shoemaker's son's interest. He helped the poster bearer in exchange for posters and programmes that he could fantasise about back home. H.C. Andersen dreamed of a career on the stage and he built up a whole repertoire of songs and plays. Soon, the strange lad was a frequent guest in bourgeois homes, where he demonstrated his abilities.
Colonel Chr. Hoegh Guldberg noticed the talented boy and arranged an audience for him with the prince at Odense Castle - the man who later became King Christian VIII. The prince offered to help H.C. if he found himself a good trade - as a turner, for example - but Andersen declined. He had greater ambitions.
The call of foreign placesConvinced that The moorish maid would be a fiasco when performed because of all the resistance, H.C. Andersen packed his bags and set off on the journey, that was to be the longest one of his life.
His travels took him southwards to Italy and, via Malta, to Greece and Turkey. His return route was via the Danube countries, which were in a state of revolt at the time. Andersen wrote informative letters home to his amazed friends in Denmark, who had not credited him with the courage needed to undertake such a long and hazardous journey. The fruit of the Oriental journey was the excellent travel account A Poet's Bazaar.
The first novel
The result of H.C. Andersen's journey to Italy in 1833-34 was his first novel, The Improvisatore. The action of the novel is placed in Italy, and much of what H.C. Andersen had experienced there was described in the novel, just as the main character is also a masked self-portrait. The title of the novel - The Improvisatore - refers to the fact that the critic J.I. Heidberg used precisely that word in a negative sense about H.C. Andersen as an artist.
Andersen's use of the term as a description of the main character is, however, a positive one. Thanks to the action and the picturesque language the book proved a very great success and was translated into German the same year.
Triumph
In 1847, H.C. Andersen visited England. The writer's novels and fairytales were received particularly well here and, to his great surprise, he discovered that he was the literary lion of the season in London. The popular writer was in great demand and, although it was not the custom in royal circles to meet with artists, the aristocracy vied with each other in being able to present the Dane' at dinern parties and balls. H.C. Andersen even received an invitation from Prince Albert to visit the royal family in Scotland. The culmination of his journey was his meeting with the English writer Charles Dickens.
The Works
H.C. Andersen is the author who has been translated into most languages in the world. To date, the museum has registered translations into almost 150 different languages.
Neben den zahlreichen Bildern, Scherenschnitten und anderen Werken von H.C. Andersen, wurde auch noch ein Kurzfilm über sein Leben gezeigt. Ich muss sagen, die 60 Kronen Eintritt haben sich wirklich ausgezahlt. Und obwohl die Dänen anfangs nicht wirklich von H.C. Andersens Werken begeistert waren, so wurde ihm doch sehr schnell Erfolg zu Teil - nicht nur Dänemark sondern weltweit. Endlich einmal ein Künstler, der während seiner Lebzeit seine Berühmtheit genießen konnte. Was Liebesdinge betraf, war er leider immer nur unglücklich verliebt. Meist waren die Frauen, nach denen er sich sehnte, bereits anderen versprochen. Und so starb er nach langer Krankheit (Krebs) unverheiratet im Alter von 70 Jahren (für die damalige Zeit ein sehr hohes Alter).
Berühmte Werke:
- „Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse“
- „Des Kaisers neue Kleider“
- „Die Schneekönigin“
- „Das kleine Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern“
- „Die kleine Meerjungfrau“
- „Das Feuerzeug“
- „Das hässliche Entlein“
- „Der standhafte Zinnsoldat“
- „Des Kaisers Nachtigall“
H.C. Andersen Fußgängerübergang :D
Auf dem nach Hause weg bin ich dann noch bei einem Kinderspielplatz vorbeigekommen - wobei ich mir nicht sicher bin ob die Bezeichnung Kinderspielplatz hier überhaupt passend ist - da die Geräte eher denen eines Fitnessstudios glichen
--> Papa zeigts vor (Cross-Trainer)
