Vilhelm Hammershøi (b. Copenhagen 1864, d. s.p. 1916)
“Landskabsstudie”. Landscape study. Early spring. In the foreground a wide, bright green field. In the middle and to the left a group of trees, which decreases towards the left. Light grey sky. 1909. Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 42×58 cm.
Sophus Michaelis and Alfred Bramsen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Vilhelm Hammershøi no. 318.
Hammershøi's landscapes are unique for their time. His landscapes do not resemble the landscape paintings of his contemporary fellow artists such as Theodor Philipsen, Hans Smidth and L. A. Ring. Most often Hammershøi paints a civilized, orderly nature, as in this painting, with its neatly planted trees. Note also how impulsively Hammershøi has placed many small light brush strokes in the sky, which causes it to vibrate.
Hammershøi positions himself at a 90-degree angle to his motif. The road and here the lined trees are oriented towards the sides of the frame and are in parallel to the picture plane. In the work of his contemporaries, the road is typically perceived as a direction leading into the motif and provides depth and movement. With Hammershøi the quiet vibration rests in the brushstrokes, the light and the colour in an otherwise silent horizontal universe.
Provenance: Official in the Government (Expeditionssekretær) Einer Koch (1918).
Condition report on request.
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Paintings, 1 March 2016
Not sold