Sculptor Edvard Eriksen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark on March 10, 1876. After an apprenticeship as a wood carver in his youth, he trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1894 to 1899. He participated in his first major exhibition at Charlottenborg in 1902, and showed regularly thereafter, winning the annual medal in 1904. He was also awarded a a study scholarship to Italy and Germany, and lived in both countries for several years.

He created several statues for the Roskilde Cathedral, including funerary busts of Danish King and Queen CHristian IX and Queen Louise, and three statues of women representing Memory, Grief, and Love. He is best known for his bronze statue of The Little Mermaid in the harbor at Langeline, Copenhagen, a tribute to ballerina Ellen Price who played the titular character for the Royal Ballet of Copenhagen in 1909. It is one of the country's most visited attractions.

From 1908 to 1919 he taught at the Academy, and in 1914 he became an associate member of the Academy Council, and a full member in 1928. From 1930 to 1953 he was a conservator at the Thorvalde Museum. He died in Copenhagen in 1957.