"L'art pur L'art", art for art's sake or art and artists are only committed to themselves. Hardly any other style claimed this for itself as much as Symbolism did at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. An important representative of this art phase was the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. On the occasion of an exhibition of the painter's works, the Hypo - Kulturstiftung ran the headline "...this modern Nordic Vermeer". Although a preceding epoch of painting, parallels can be seen in the choice of motifs and color: individual persons, absorbed in a mostly everyday activity. Rooms are mysteriously illuminated, melancholy. Both painters succeed in capturing a very specific moment.
Vilhelm Hammershøi, son of a merchant family, came into contact with art as an 8-year-old boy. His parents recognized the boy's talent early, and he received drawing lessons. Following his general education, he enrolled at the Art Academy in Copenhagen. In the course of further studies at the "Free Art School Copenhagen" he began to develop his extraordinary style. An academy scholarship took him to Italy, where he visited the most important cities in Tuscany. Together with his wife Ida he traveled through Germany, England and France. Years later Hammershøi would return to Italy, to Rome and Naples. During this time he created landscape and architectural depictions. Better known are his paintings of people and rooms. Hammershøi created his scenarios in the context of light and time. Rooms, landscapes and architectures are places of silence. Interiors are reduced to what is essential from the painter's point of view. His oil paintings captivate with high-contrast planes. The typical light-dark contrasts appear fluid in the delineation, appear softly drawn. It succeeds in capturing the essence of a moment. The painter's apartment is repeatedly found as a motif. The composition of the picture is occasionally expanded by the depiction of individual persons - often his wife Ida - but never overloaded. People are rarely the focus of his works. If persons form a focal point of the picture, only rear views are shown. The identity of the person remains hidden. The interior commands attention. The rooms have depth: doors that open, reveal the view into a sequence of rooms, arouse curiosity. Repeats an open window as a central motif. Flickering light falls into the room, drawing the eye to the space, away from the subjects. The self-portrait of the painter corresponds to this picture structure, there is first the room door in the light, then one discovers a person in the semi-darkness at the edge of the picture. The melancholic effect of the paintings is due to the subtle color and balanced composition.
From 1905 Hammershøi's works were shown publicly, a first solo exhibition was held in the Hamburg gallery of the art dealer Paul Cassierer. International exhibitions followed, including in Italy and the USA. The interest in this painter of silence and light extends to the present, as the retrospective of the Munich Hypo - Kulturstiftung showed.
"L'art pur L'art", art for art's sake or art and artists are only committed to themselves. Hardly any other style claimed this for itself as much as Symbolism did at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. An important representative of this art phase was the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. On the occasion of an exhibition of the painter's works, the Hypo - Kulturstiftung ran the headline "...this modern Nordic Vermeer". Although a preceding epoch of painting, parallels can be seen in the choice of motifs and color: individual persons, absorbed in a mostly everyday activity. Rooms are mysteriously illuminated, melancholy. Both painters succeed in capturing a very specific moment.
Vilhelm Hammershøi, son of a merchant family, came into contact with art as an 8-year-old boy. His parents recognized the boy's talent early, and he received drawing lessons. Following his general education, he enrolled at the Art Academy in Copenhagen. In the course of further studies at the "Free Art School Copenhagen" he began to develop his extraordinary style. An academy scholarship took him to Italy, where he visited the most important cities in Tuscany. Together with his wife Ida he traveled through Germany, England and France. Years later Hammershøi would return to Italy, to Rome and Naples. During this time he created landscape and architectural depictions. Better known are his paintings of people and rooms. Hammershøi created his scenarios in the context of light and time. Rooms, landscapes and architectures are places of silence. Interiors are reduced to what is essential from the painter's point of view. His oil paintings captivate with high-contrast planes. The typical light-dark contrasts appear fluid in the delineation, appear softly drawn. It succeeds in capturing the essence of a moment. The painter's apartment is repeatedly found as a motif. The composition of the picture is occasionally expanded by the depiction of individual persons - often his wife Ida - but never overloaded. People are rarely the focus of his works. If persons form a focal point of the picture, only rear views are shown. The identity of the person remains hidden. The interior commands attention. The rooms have depth: doors that open, reveal the view into a sequence of rooms, arouse curiosity. Repeats an open window as a central motif. Flickering light falls into the room, drawing the eye to the space, away from the subjects. The self-portrait of the painter corresponds to this picture structure, there is first the room door in the light, then one discovers a person in the semi-darkness at the edge of the picture. The melancholic effect of the paintings is due to the subtle color and balanced composition.
From 1905 Hammershøi's works were shown publicly, a first solo exhibition was held in the Hamburg gallery of the art dealer Paul Cassierer. International exhibitions followed, including in Italy and the USA. The interest in this painter of silence and light extends to the present, as the retrospective of the Munich Hypo - Kulturstiftung showed.
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