Obituary

Obituary of Ivan Dalen

February 8, 2025

Ivan Dalen, an artist and long-term Manhattan resident, passed away peacefully on February 8, three months after being diagnosed with cancer. He was two weeks shy of his 87th birthday.

Ivan Dalen was born on February 22, 1938 in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, Canada to Arne and Julia Dalen and raised in Fox Valley, Saskatchewan on a farm homesteaded by his Father in 1910 which eventually grew into a 1760 acre wheat farm. After his father’s early death, Ivan, at the age of 19, took over the farm work for a few years while attending Alberta College of Art, in Calgary. His younger brother, Larry, working with their Mother, was eventually able to take over the farm management, although Ivan continued for many years to travel to Saskatchewan to help put in the crops in the spring and take off the harvest in the fall while pursing a career in art in New York City.

After graduating from Alberta College of Art in 1962, Ivan spent time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico where his painting was heavily influenced by the vivid colors of Mexican artists, the lush vegetation of the country and the passion of the Mexican culture which he forever after loved. Nevertheless, the austere influence of the vast prairie sky, the shifting colors and patterns of the prairie light, heat waves rising off the soil and waving grain fields, and clouds of dust during his youth on the farm remained deeply embedded in his psyche and influenced his art.

He moved to New York City in 1965 to pursue his lifelong passion for painting. He lived for many years in a large, raw, unheated industrial loft on the Bowery where he painted enormous color field paintings (up to 9’ x 18’) and created, built and painted uniquely shaped canvases. When he was eventually forced out by rising rents, he moved to an apartment nearby in the Little Italy neighborhood and concentrated on painting in watercolor and pastels.

While pursuing his passion for painting, Ivan also worked as a graphic artist and packaging designer for many companies in New York.

Ivan was a kind and generous man, a quiet dreamer but a disciplined worker, He was wonderful with little children and loved cats his entire life. He enjoyed travel both in Europe and the United States and especially loved Monhegan Island and Winter Harbor in Maine where he spent several summer vacations painting. He always regretted not seeing the pyramids in Egypt and Machu Picchu.

Ivan is survived by his companion of many years, Suzan Schaefer, his nieces and nephews in Canada: Danny (Gaylene) Dalen, Garth (Shelley) Glass, Valerie (Robert) Knowlden, Cindy (Deryk) Tyler and many great-nieces and nephews. His New York family, John and Anne Rao, and their children Nicky, Olivia and Peter were dear to his heart. His brothers Arnold and Larry and his sister, Ellen predeceased him.

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