…cutting out paper, that is the beginning of writing...

Although one cannot prove a direct connection between Hans Christian Andersen's multiform paper cuttings and his writing, his extensive cutting and collage art indicates a creative energy on an equal high level as his literary and dramatic works.

Andersen's outstanding creativity manifests itself most clearly in his famous eight winged folding screen adorned with collages cut out in the winter and spring of 1874. It was placed in front of his bed during the last year of his life. The screen was meant to please and challenge the spectator.

A deeper meaning may be hidden in the eight different themes which Andersen treats in his collage art. They are all composed in a tight but fantasizing imagery, especially the screens adorned with the themes "Childhood" and "The Theatre" as he named them in a letter. They are not only making out at pair in the folding screen but are also extraordinarily rich in figurative settings and iconographical points.

The poet's imagery becomes a medium for deeper thoughts and meanings and appears as a personal and almost psychoanalytical study of his childhood as well as the rich fantasy and dream worlds of the theatre.