30 Comments
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Kristin Fellows's avatar

Being half Danish, I'm shocked at myself for not knowing about him! Thank you for today's story and artwork.

Interesting to see the only face actually shown was male, and that the females were only shown in profile or from the back. Was this perhaps to protect her/their privacy?

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George Bothamley's avatar

Glad to know you enjoyed his work, Kristin. And that’s a really interesting thought about why he might have not shown the women from the front. It adds yet another question of why he would have wanted to protect their privacy!.

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Kristin Fellows's avatar

Lots of reasons, i suspect. Modesty, one of them. So as not to be thought a tart or something else unseemly (back in the day), so as not to be outed as the painter's mistress/girlfriend? Who knows?! ☺️

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David Roberts's avatar

Big fan of Hammershoi. We have this Vic Muniz riff on one of his works and it may be my favorite thing that we own.

https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/first-open-online-post-war-contemporary-art/vik-muniz-b-1961-118/65814

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George Bothamley's avatar

Wow, that's really cool David.

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Oluseyi Akinyode's avatar

Thanks for introducing me to this artist. The back of the figure seemed weirdly familiar. I looked it up—I d seen that back in a documentary by Michael Palin on Vilhelm. Great to make that connection!

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George Bothamley's avatar

Oh, cool! I like that that you still remembered it even from just a glance in that documentary.

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Oddfello's avatar

The very thing I was yearning for, thank you

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søren k. harbel's avatar

A painter of light. Very few can paint light falling through a window the way he did. You can almost feel the dust playing in the sunlight.

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George Bothamley's avatar

That is such a beautiful way of describing his work.

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Susan Scheid's avatar

Lovely observation.

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Chidanand M's avatar

A distinctive style, unique to this artist.

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Penny Allen's avatar

What an interesting artist! I can see the Vermeer connection but can also see Hopper.

Hope I get the chance to see more of Vilhelm Hammershoi someday. Thank you so much George

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George Bothamley's avatar

I’m totally with you in his closeness to Hopper too, Penny. In fact, I once wrote an article on here making the comparison between Hopper and Vermeer . . . so I suppose the three of them could make a little triumvirate.

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Evelyn Mow's avatar

"Vermeer meets Edward Hopper". . . Thank you, this artist was new to me!

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George Bothamley's avatar

You are not the first to mention that connection, Evelyn. It’s a fantastic way of describing his work.

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Hamarcturus's avatar

Liked the use of ‘silence’ in paintings after your interesting observation. Made me think of this….

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52339/silence-56d230b89fd5e

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Conny Borgelioen's avatar

I love Hammershøi's Rückenfigur paintings. They're a fascination of mine. I wrote an essay on them. I scheduled it to post in September. Thanks for sharing these beautiful images. I hadn't seen some of them yet. I also saw the excellent documentary that Michael Palin did. It's available on YouTube and I highly recommend it!

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Catherine Lecce-Chong's avatar

Wow! With the people not looking at me, I felt as if I could enter these amazing thoughtful, silent interiors. A kind of western Buddhist retreat thank you.

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Switter’s World's avatar

There is much intrigue and a little mystery in those hidden faces. Sometimes, something that is none of my business is just that, but that doesn’t extinguish curiosity.

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Susan Scheid's avatar

He is another artist with whom I became acquainted only very recently. I love the contemplative nature of the work of his I have seen and appreciate enormously your series for introducing me to so many more of his works.

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Lois Obrien's avatar

I’m wondering why there are no notes on the Music sheet in front of this lovely young woman who’s obviously sat down to play. Was it that he didn’t know how to score music or was it intentional?

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George Bothamley's avatar

What a fantastic observation, Lois. I have no definite answer to why he left them unwritten - but will absolutely be thinking about this for the rest of today.

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Rebecca Hartog's avatar

Fascinating. Thank you.

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Nancy Hesting's avatar

They're all beautiful in all of its simplicity.

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