Per Nørgård was born on 13 July 1932 in Gentofte, Denmark. He completed his education at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen. Jean Sibelius was influenced by the Scandinavian style, along with Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe. He discovered modernist techniques in Central Europe in the 1960s. He was subsequently inspired by the Swiss artist Adolf Wölfli, and many of Nørgård's works refer to him.