Sophus Michaelis and Alfred Bramsen, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Vilhelm Hammershøi no. 318.

Susanne Meyer-Abich, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Vilhelm Hammershøi in “Vilhelm Hammershøi: Das Malerische Werk”, 1995, no. 316.

Exhibited: Kunstforeningen, “Fortegnelse over arbejder af Vilhelm Hammershøi”, 1916 (II) no. 83. Here with the title “Fra Lyngbyvejen” (From Lyngbyvejen). The road runs north from Copenhagen.

Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, “Hammershøi. Le maître de la peinture danoise”, 2019 no. 20, reproduced in the catalogue p. 111.

Literature: Jean-Loup Champion, “Entre rêve et Réalité, Le Paysage” in “Hammershøi. Le maître de la peinture danoise” (exhibition catalogue), Paris 2019. Mentioned p. 109 and reproduced p. 111.

Champion writes about the painting: “Le paysage de 1909 ressemble à une esquisse tant les couleurs semblent à peine posèes sur la toile. Un champ vert contre un ciel gris est délimité par une ligne horizontale d'arbres interrompue aux deux tiers, laissant le côté droit presque vide. Cette économie de moyens rend cette composition fascinante dans sa radical simplicité.” (The landscape from 1909 resembles a study, as it seems as if the colours hardly touch the canvas. A green field against a grey sky is demarcated by a horizontal line of trees interrupted two-thirds in, which makes the right side of the painting almost empty. This restrained use of painterly means makes the motif fascinating in its radical simplicity.) (p. 109).

Champion writes about Hammershøi's landscapes in general: “Ce sont des lignes d'horizons lointains, scandées de quelques arbres, sans aucune présence humaine, et des peintures presque abstraites, purgées de tout détail et de toute anecdote, rendant au ciel une place magistrale...” (There are distant horizontal lines, interrupted by individual trees without any human presence. They almost become abstract paintings cleansed of all details and anecdotes, giving the sky an exalted position…) (pp. 107–109).

Provenance: Ekspeditionssekretær (official in the Government) later chairman of Overværgerådet (the public trustee's office) Einer Koch (1875–1926), who belonged to the circle of friends around Vilhelm Hammershøi and was the current owner's grandfather.

Hammershøi's landscapes are unique for his time. He 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 run 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.