Departures of note

In 1909, Folmer Bonnén exhibited a large, colourful painting titled Ungdom i aftensol (Youth in the Evening Sun) as a founding member of the modernist artists' group De Tretten. The work caused considerable controversy, but the established painter Kristian Zahrtmann immediately supported it and awarded Bonnén a stipendium. His art was later included in the painting event at the 1924 Summer Olympics.

Bonnén's later work, as seen in his solo exhibition in 1942, was much more subdued. Under the influence of the Nazi occupation, he sought to contribute to what he called 'national culture'. During the Second World War, he worked as a journalist for the Nazi newspaper Fædrelandet, and according to the Bovrup File he joined the Danish Nazi Party (DNSAP) in April 1940, just before Germany's invasion of Denmark.

Beyond painting, Bonnén had wide cultural interests. He developed a new technique called Dansk Fresko (Danish fresco), based on casein paint on cement. He also sang as a tenor in 1915, translated Heinrich Heine's Lyrisk Intermezzo in 1919, and wrote poems for children. In 1918, he opened a painting school; one of his students was Frede Salling.