Danish painter. Born 1950 in Aarhus, Denmark. Lives and works in Pietrasanta, Italy and Cologne, Germany.

Troels Wörsel is self-taught and since the 1970s has exhibited both in Denmark and abroad. This was also when he moved to Munich and later Cologne. In Munich he was affiliated with the Academy and worked in a studio supplied by the BASF concern. In those years he was heavily influenced by the German art scene which was the rallying ground for ambitious, international artists. Since 1997 Wörsel has lived and worked in Pietrasanta in Italy.

In the 1970s he was interested mostly in Pop art and conceptual art. Moreover philosophical issues such as the relationship between space and time characterised his art.

In the early 1980s the purely painterly caught his interest more than the idea behind the work. He experimented with the wild painting and contributed to the pioneer exhibition Rundschau Deutschland and Bildwechsel at West Berlin's Akademie der Künste.

Since 1969 Wörsel has participated in a large number of exhibitions: Biennale de Paris (1975), Fyns Stifts Kunstmuseum (1979), Städtisches Kunstmuseum Bonn (1982), Visual Arts Museum in New York (1983), Malmö Konsthall (1987), Nordiskt Konstcentrum in Helsinki (1989), Kunsthallen Brandts Klædefabrik in Odense (1992, 1996), Kunstmuseet Trapholt in Kolding (1994), Musée des Beaux-Art de Nantes (1996), Sønderjyllands Kunstmuseum in Tønder (2000), Reykjavik Art Museum (2002), Victoria Miro in London (2002), Kunstforeningen GL Strand in Copenhagen, Sophienholm in Lyngby (2004), Nordiska Akvarellmuseet in Skärhamn (2006) and the 52. Venice Biennal (2007).

In 1995 Wörsel was awarded the Eckersberg Medal, and in 2002 he won Carnegie Art Award's first prize with three paintings all of which, like Untitled ("illare idea"), were executed on the reverse of the canvas.
Wörsel's approach to art stems from a fundamental interest in the painting and its devices, its history, function and formal characteristics. Troels Wörsel has created a highly media investigative and semiotic artwork, where he submits the painting to a range of investigations of its semantic potentials. He draws upon inspiration from numerous places in the art history, but in a way where no particular 'ism' or direction becomes the driving force.

Troels Wörsel's work is created through continual investigations, a process that has become a necessity for its development, and which leads to original and personal expressions and ensures a constant evolution. Traces of American Pop Art are evident along with, Minimalism and Concept Art, but at a closer look traces from the European art history are revealed as well, Velásquez, Picabia, Duchamp and Mondrian appear to be some of the influences as well as Renaissance and Baroque. Because of the many influences one would think that the expression would be eclectic and fragmentary, but contrary to this the works appear strong and as well as visually harmonious also intellectually well grounded.