Interior

Interior

ca 1899

Oil on canvas

Mått 56,50 x 46,50 cm Ram 65,00 x 55,50 x 3,50 cm

F 35

Bequest of Pontus and Göthilda Fürstenberg, 1902

From the book “The Collection: The Gothenburg Museum of Art”, Gothenburg 2014: Interior (c.1899) was probably painted in the artist’s home at Strandgade 30 in Copenhagen, where the Hammershøis moved in September 1898. A woman is seated on a chair with her back to us. She is wearing a long black skirt and a white blouse. Her hair is up in a bun. She sits at a small semi-circular table, reading a book. Only one of the three table legs is visible; the other two are hidden by the woman and the white panelled door which stands ajar on the right. To the left is a grey curtain, and the wall with its dado is in two different hues. On the wall hangs a landscape in a black frame. A grey light falls on the scene from the left. The image is bare of detail and the colours are subdued. It gives the scene a devout air. The woman sits absorbed in her reading, facing away from us. Time has stopped, and we pause in an eternal moment. In this painting too the curtailing means that the composition is emphasized at the expense of depth. It is because of this simplification and purity of expression that Vilhelm Hammershøi continues to fascinate today. Perhaps because he painted quiet and reverent spaces—sought-after at a time when we are awash with a constant flow of communication. Kristoffer Arvidsson

München, Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung, 15/06/2012 - 16/09/2012, no. 42 Köpenhamn, Statens Museum for Kunst, 04/02/2012 - 20/05/2012, no. 42 Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 22/03/2003 - 29/06/2003, no. 15

Georg Pauli, "Fürstenbergska galleriet. Spridda drag ur dess historia", Ord & Bild, 1902, p. 346, ill. p. 344 Georg Nordensvan, "I Göteborgs Museum. Några intryck af Georg Nordensvan", Ord & Bild, red. Karl Whålin, Ord & Bild/Wahlström & Widstrand, 1906, p. 30 Kasper Monrad, Hammershøi and Europe, red. Sven Bjerkhof, Statens Museum for Kunst/Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung/Prestel Verlag, Köpenhamn och München 2012., no. 42, p. 63, ill. p. 64 Felix Krämer, Kasper Monrad, Barbara Ludwig, Vilhelm Hammershøi, red. Felix Krämer, Ulrich Luckhardt, Barbara Ludwig, 2003., no. 15, ill. p. 42 Emmanuel Pernoud, Hopper. Peindre l'attente, red. Geneviève Rudolf, Citadelles & Mazenod, Paris 2012, ill. p. 65 Kristoffer Arvidsson, Per Dahlström, Björn Fredlund, Anna Hyltze, Philippa Nanfeldt, Isabella Nilsson, Johan Sjöström, Samlingen Göteborgs konstmuseum, red. Kristoffer Arvidsson, Per Dahlström, Anna Hyltze, Göteborgs konstmuseum, Göteborg 2014., p. 179, ill. p. 181 Axel L. Romdahl, "Göteborgs Konstmuseum", Konstrevy, specialnummer om Göteborg, årg. XV, red., 1939., ill. p. 14