It has become a commonplace in Per Kirkeby exhibition catalogues to note that he earned a Master's in geology and participated in five research expeditions to Greenland, and to declare that he therefore paints in layers -- as obviously only a sedimentary geologist can. Not only do curators and critics rarely delve any deeper into the relation between the work of this prolific experimental artist and his background in Arctic Quaternary geology, but they also entirely ignore the many other academic interests that inform his art, both conceptually and visually. Yet Kirkeby himself has proclaimed, 'A picture without intellectual superstructure is nothing.' In 'The Artist as Polyhistor', Lars Morell provides the superstructure missing from other critical accounts by examining intellectual content and allusions in the Kirkeby oeuvre from eleven disciplinary perspectives -- everything from theology to genetics and eros to crystallography. In addition, he has drawn on personal conversations