Vilhelm Hammershøi – på sporet af det åbne billede

Non-fiction literature on painting art (Danish)
Annette Rosenvold Hvidt and Gertrud Oelsner: Vilhelm Hammershøi – på sporet af det åbne billede, 2018

Read a very thorough review of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s life from an art and cultural-historical perspective. Painter Hammershøi is one of the best known Danish painters in the world and stands out from his contemporary painter colleagues. He was strongly inspired by the invention and development of the 19th century photography, and he sensibly painted the silence and absence but also the presence in monochrome colors with a Nordic cool palette. Architecture painted with douche colors and as if in a light fog grabs the viewer. Hammershøi in particular painted the light experienced from the indoors and was captivated by windows and doors in old stately buildings, usually his own home. He was very well traveled but found the motifs in his everyday life often with his wife as a model in their home living rooms in Strandgade, Copenhagen. The painter’s mother, sister, brother, and wife, as well as his mentor P. S. Krøyer, live through the book’s many photographs, drawings, paintings, postcards, and letters. Borrow the library’s perhaps heaviest book and allow yourself to enjoy and find the stories in Hammershøi’s most beautiful paintings.

Pictures from Dagbladet and goodreads