Vilhelm Hammershøi - Interiors

Vilhelm Hammershoi is an artist who I’m sure will be an extremely well known name to any of you who happen to be reading this in his native Copenhagen. (Or, indeed, anywhere across Denmark)

But as for the rest of the world - and certainly in the wider context of art history - I still think there is a long way to go before Vilhelm really gets the recognition his talent deserves.

So for today, I wanted to feature a little selection of his work as another addition to our ongoing series on forgotten or overlooked artists.

Interior with Young Woman Seen from the Back - 1904 (Randers Museum of Art)

Ida Reading a Letter - 1899 (Private collection)

Though he travelled sporadically throughout Europe during his life - Vilhelm predominately worked in his native city of Copenhagen, specialising in portraits, architecture, and landscapes.

However, it is in these enigmatic interior pieces where we find him at his very best . . . and it is no false praise to say that he has a touch of Vermeer’s magic in his hands, with this wonderful balance of intimacy and mystery.

Interior - 1899 (National Gallery, London)

At first glance, there is not much happening in any of these paintings.

In fact, even the colour scheme is all pretty muted. And yet the longer we look, the more captivating they become.

There is an ethereal silence that seems to surround these nameless figures - and it feels almost like a personal affront that they never even look in our direction.

Yet at the same time, this “silence” seems to pose us so many questions too.

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Who are these people?

Are they all members of the same household?

Is this intended as a whole narrative series - i.e where we are seeing characters in the same story, reading the same letter, at different times of day?

Or, are they entirely separate from each other - in which case, we find ourselves in ever more fertile ground to imagine just what each person may be thinking about!

Interior, 1909

And perhaps one of the most interesting questions of all relates to our own position as the observer here too.

After all, none of these figures seem at all aware that they are being observed.

So, does that mean that we are actually being invited into a scene as prying eyes - or spying on these people who really just want to be alone in their own thoughts?

Or, are they actually aware of our presence all along? And, if they were to finally look at us . . . would they be glad to see us?

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As always, the possibilities are endless - so I encourage all of you to share your own thoughts in the comments today too, as variety of interpretation is all part of the beauty with work like this.

Interior with a young man - 1898

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Interior with Woman at Piano, 1901 (Private Collection)