Portrait of Vilhelm Hammershoi

Vilhelm Hammershoi Painting Reproductions 1 of 3

1864-1916

Danish Symbolist Painter

Vilhelm Hammershoi (15 May 1864 - 13 February 1916), was a Danish painter. He is known for his poetic, low-key portraits and interiors. In 1997, Denmark issued a postage stamp in his honor.

Vilhelm Hammershoi was born in 1864 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The son of a well-to-do merchant, Christian Hammershoi, and his wife, Frederikke (nee Rentzmann), Hammershoi studied drawing from the age of eight with Niels Christian Kierkegaard and Holger Gronvold, as well as painting with Vilhelm Kyhn, before embarking on studies with Frederik Vermehren and others at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. From 1883 to 1885, he studied with Peder Severin Kroyer at the Independent Study Schools, then debuted in the Charlottenborg Exhibition in the spring of 1885 with Portrait of a Young Girl (his sister, Anna; Pierre Auguste Renoir is reported to have admired this painting). Hammershoi married Ida Ilsted in 1891.

Artistic career
Hammershoi worked mainly in his native city, painting portraits, architecture, and interiors. He also journeyed to the surrounding countryside and locations beyond, where he painted rolling hills, stands of trees, farm houses, and other landscapes. He is most celebrated for his interiors, many of which he painted in Copenhagen at Strandgade 30 (where he lived with his wife from 1898 to 1909, and Strandgade 25 (where they lived from 1913 to 1916). He travelled widely in Europe, finding London especially atmospheric in providing locations for his highly understated work, suffused as it was at the time with a foggy, coal smoke polluted atmosphere. His work in consequence has been described as "Monet meets the Camden School".

Hammershoi's wife figures in many of his interiors, often depicted from behind. Ida is also the model in many similar works by her brother, Peter Ilsted. Peter and Vilhelm were lifelong friends, business partners, and colleagues. The Metropolitan Museum of Art held an exhibition of their collective works in 2001, and there was an exhibition of his works in 2008 at the Royal Academy of London.

Technique
Hammershoi's paintings are best described as muted in tone. He refrained from employing bright colors (except in his very early academic works), opting always for a limited palette consisting of grays, as well as desaturated yellows, greens, and other dark hues. His tableaux of figures turned away from the viewer project an air of slight tension and mystery, while his exteriors of grand buildings in Copenhagen and in London (he painted two exteriors of the British Museum between 1905 and 1906) are devoid of people, a quality they share with his landscapes.

Critical acclaim
Hammershoi's early works, with their simplicity and recording of the "banality of everyday life", enjoyed critical acclaim. He was sought out by artists and literary figures of the time, among them Emil Nolde and Rainer Maria Rilke, who both remarked on his retiring manner and reluctance to talk. After a trip to Paris, his work became overly detailed. According to art critic Souren Melikian, his "painterly skill remained but the magic was lost."

Hammershoi’s melancholic vision has now regained its place in the public consciousness. He is now one of the best-known artists in Scandinavia, and comprehensive retrospectives of his work have been organized by the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. In 2008, the Royal Academy of London hosted the first major exhibition in Britain of Hammershoi’s work, Vilhelm Hammershoi: The Poetry of Silence.

51 Hammershoi Paintings

Rest, 1905 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Rest 1905

Oil Painting
$943
Canvas Print
$58.16
SKU: HAV-10200
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 49.5 x 46.5 cm
Musee d'Orsay, Paris, France

Interior, 1898 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior 1898

Oil Painting
$1031
Canvas Print
$59.85
SKU: HAV-10201
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 51.5 x 46 cm
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

Interior with a Lady Reading, c.1900 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior with a Lady Reading c.1900

Oil Painting
$1134
Canvas Print
$53.99
SKU: HAV-10202
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 73 x 61 cm
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

The Music Room, n.d. by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

The Music Room n.d.

Oil Painting
$936
Canvas Print
$54.64
SKU: HAV-10203
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 68.5 x 59.5 cm
Private Collection

The Collector of Coins, 1904 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

The Collector of Coins 1904

Oil Painting
$1158
Canvas Print
$59.90
SKU: HAV-10204
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 89 x 69.5 cm
Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo, Norway

Interior with the Artist's Mother, 1889 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior with the Artist's Mother 1889

Oil Painting
$916
Canvas Print
$70.88
SKU: HAV-10205
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 55 x 51 cm
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

Landscape from Lejre, 1905 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Landscape from Lejre 1905

Oil Painting
$961
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10206
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 41 x 68 cm
National Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

Seated Figure (Anna Hammershoi), 1884 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Seated Figure (Anna Hammershoi) 1884

Oil Painting
$576
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10207
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 48 x 35 cm
Private Collection

Interior with a Lady, 1901 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior with a Lady 1901

Oil Painting
$979
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10208
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 54.9 x 53 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

Portrait of the Artist's Mother, n.d. by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of the Artist's Mother n.d.

Oil Painting
$829
Canvas Print
$70.66
SKU: HAV-10209
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 34 x 37 cm
Private Collection

Corner of a Farm, 1883 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Corner of a Farm 1883

Oil Painting
$785
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10210
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 34 x 36.3 cm
Private Collection

Portrait of Ida, c.1890 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Ida c.1890

Oil Painting
$861
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10211
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 39 x 31 cm
Private Collection

Landscape with Farm, 1883 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Landscape with Farm 1883

Oil Painting
$767
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10212
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 35 x 37 cm
Private Collection

Interior with Easel, Bredgade 25, 1912 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior with Easel, Bredgade 25 1912

Oil Painting
$1108
Canvas Print
$68.37
SKU: HAV-10213
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 78.5 x 70.3 cm
Private Collection

Interior, 1890 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior 1890

Oil Painting
$821
SKU: HAV-10214
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 41.5 x 34.5 cm
Private Collection

A Woman in an Interior, 1913 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

A Woman in an Interior 1913

Oil Painting
$1093
Canvas Print
$62.67
SKU: HAV-10215
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 67.5 x 54.3 cm
Private Collection

Portrait of a Young Woman. The Artist's Sister Anna, 1885 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of a Young Woman. The Artist's Sister Anna 1885

Oil Painting
$1193
SKU: HAV-10216
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 112 x 91.5 cm
Private Collection

Double Portrait (The Artist and His Wife), 1898 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Double Portrait (The Artist and His Wife) 1898

Oil Painting
$1243
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10217
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 72 x 86 cm
ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark

Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams, 1900 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams 1900

Oil Painting
$983
Canvas Print
$66.43
SKU: HAV-10218
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 70 x 59 cm
Ordrupgaard, Copenhagen, Denmark

From the British Museum. Winter, 1906 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

From the British Museum. Winter 1906

Oil Painting
$973
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10219
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Interior, Woman at the Window, 1913 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior, Woman at the Window 1913

Oil Painting
$886
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10220
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Interior. Young Woman seen from Behind, c.1904 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior. Young Woman seen from Behind c.1904

Oil Painting
$953
Canvas Print
$63.65
SKU: HAV-10221
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: 61 x 50.5 cm
Randers Kunstmuseum, Randers, Denmark

Woman Reading, 1908 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Woman Reading 1908

Oil Painting
$961
Canvas Print
$50.44
SKU: HAV-10222
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Interior with a Woman Reading a Letter, Strandgade 30, 1899 by Hammershoi | Painting Reproduction

Interior with a Woman Reading a Letter, Strandgade 30 1899

Oil Painting
$1013
Canvas Print
$71.26
SKU: HAV-10223
Vilhelm Hammershoi
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

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