Johan Vilhelm Andersen worked with painting, graphics, and glass mosaics. In the 1920s his paintings became more figurative with mythological or literary content in a little heavy, cubist style. After that he worked primarily with landscapes, portraits and interiors in picturesque forms. In the 1950s and 1960s he composed a series of works with execution of stained glass for churches and in this connection resumed the work of large figure compositions. Andersen was trained as a painter and then transferred to the Academy of Fine Arts København (Copenhagen).