Vilhelm Hammershøi at the Royal Academy: the poetry of silence

A minor star during his lifetime, the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) faded from view during the middle years of the 20th century, only to be rediscovered in recent years by a new generation of admirers. Hammershøi's cool interiors and distinctive grey-themed palette have attracted considerable attention for their restrained elegance and quiet power, and have led to a new retrospective which opens this week at the Royal Academy. Here we present some of the most famous paintings, along with archive photographs of Hammershøi, his family and the interiors he painted, which provide rare glimpses into the life of this most reclusive of artists

  • Vilhelm Hammershøi, Portrait of a Young Girl, 1885 (oil on canvas). Hammershøi's portrait of his sister Anna was painted when the artist was 21. The Danish Royal Academy passed over the work when judging the 1885 Neuhausen Prize, and the omission prompted a furious backlash from fellow artists who saw considerable potential in the young painter's work.
    Vilhelm Hammershøi: Portrait of a Young Girl

  • Photograph of Anna Hammershøi, 1886.An official carte de visite portrait of the subject of Hammershøi's painting, his nineteen-year-old sister Anna, taken by the Court Photographer Budtz Müller.
    Carte de visite photograph of Anna Hammershøi. 1886.

  • Photograph of Vilhelm Hammershøi, 1889.The artist aged 25, four years after painting the portrait of his sister.
    Photograph of Vilhelm Hammershøi, 25 years old, 1889. The Hirschsprung Collection.

  • Vilhelm Hammershøi, Rest (oil on canvas)
    Rest

  • Photograph of Anna Hammershøi with a Japanese parasol, undated.It is doubtful whether Hammershøi painted at this time from a photographic original, but he and his siblings loved to visit photographers. Some shots of Anna reveal resemblances to the seated posture and the predominance of the hands in Hammershøi's painting.
    Photograph of Anna Hammershøi with a parasol, undated.

  • Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior with Woman at Piano, Strandgade 30, 1901 (oil on canvas, 55.9 x 45.1 cm)
    Interior with Woman at Piano

  • Photograph from the home of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s parents, circa 1890.The living room of the Hammershøi family home, as photographed by the painter V. Schønheyder Møller. Hammershøi's portrait hangs on the wall, and Anna herself is seated at the piano.
    Photograph from the home of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s parents, circa 1890.

  • Vilhelm Hammershøi, Interior, Strandgade 30, 1908 (oil on canvas, 79 x 66 cm)
    Interior, Strandgade 30

  • Photograph of Ida and Vilhelm Hammershøi, 1913.Hammershøi and his wife Ida at their home at Strandgade 25. The couple married in 1891, and Hammershøi's wife features in many of his interiors, often depicted in simplified renderings of their own home.
    Photograph of Ida and Vilhelm Hammershøi in their home, Strandgade 25. 1913

  • Photograph of Ida Hammershøi at home, Bredgade 25, circa 1911.Ida also modelled frequently for her brother, Peter Ilsted. Hammershøi and Peter were lifelong friends, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art held a joint exhibition of their collected works in 2001.
    Photograph of Ida Hammershøi at home, Bredgade 25, about 1911

  • Photograph of works by Vilhelm Hammershøi, 1886.Two of Hammershøi's paintings can be seen in this photograph of the Artists’ Study School exhibition at Charlottenborg around New Year 1896. Portrait of a Young Girl hangs at the outer left, and to the left of the painting of the cello player can be seen Hammershøi's 1886 painting, Old Woman Seated, which had been lent to the exhibition by the collector and patron Heinrich Hirschsprung.
    Photograph of works by Vilhelm Hammershøi exhibited at The Artists’ Study School exhibition at Charlottenborg around New Year 1896.

  • Vilhelm Hammershøi, Sunbeams or Sunshine. Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams, 1900 (oil on canvas, 70 x 59 cm)
    Sunbeams or Sunshine. Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams, 1900

  • An old Copenhagen courtyard, undated.A photograph taken by the photographer Kristian Hude (1864-1926) of a courtyard which once belonged to Hammershøi.
    An old Copenhagen courtyard, taken by photographer Kristian Hude

  • Vilhelm Hammershøi in the courtyard of Strandgade 30, winter 1907.Ida can be seen looking through a window of the couple's apartment. Hammershøi painted the interior of this old merchant house in Copenhagen more than 60 times, and many of the images on which his reputation is founded were created here. In a rare interview Hammershøi commented: "Personally I am fond of the old; of old houses, of old furniture, of that quite special mood that these things possess."
    Vilhelm Hammershøi in the courtyard of Strandgade 30

  • The palette of Vilhelm Hammershøi.On the death of Hammershøi in 1916 the painter and sculptor Joakim Skovgaard recalled that he had visited his fellow artist in 1894: “On that occasion I saw Hammershøi’s palette ... Layer had been laid upon layer of paint, and down inside these layers the paint was strangely smoothed out, so that it looked as if four oyster shells lay on the palette.”
    The palette of Vilhelm Hammershøi
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