Vilhelm Hammershøi: Silence

A beautifully produced exhibition catalogue celebrating the work of Vilhelm Hammershøi featuring rarely exhibited works and essays from leading Hammershøi expert Felix Krämer and art historian Florian Illies.

Defying categorization, the timeless paintings of nineteenth-century Danish master Vilhelm Hammershøi visually bridge the art of the Old Masters with that of the modern era. His remarkably modernist sensibility continues to capture the imaginations of contemporary audiences around the globe, with major international retrospectives and exhibitions on view over the last twenty years from London to Tokyo. Accompanying the inaugural exhibition of Hauser & Wirth's new Basel gallery--the first ever solo show of Hammershøi's work in Switzerland--'Silence' offers an in-depth understanding of Hammershøi's highly individual artistic language, encapsulated in eighteen works, all from private collections and some rarely exhibited before. Bringing together the interior paintings for which Hammershøi is best known with farmstead paintings, cityscapes, and a rare self-portrait, 'Silence' demonstrates the breadth and depth of the artist's practice. The works' quiet yet radical originality positions the artist as a powerful precursor to the modern masters who were to come. With illuminating essays by Felix Krämer, the exhibition's curator and a leading expert on Hammershøi, and Florian Illies, art historian and bestselling author of 'Love in a Time of Hate' and '1913: The Year Before the Storm', 'Silence' is an essential resource on the celebrated painter.

Auteur

Felix Krämer has held the position of Director General and artistic director of the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf since October 2017, as well as being Chairman of the Executive Board of Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast.

Florian Illies is a writer, editor, and art historian who is the author of five international bestsellers, including '1913: The Year Before the Storm.

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Masterpieces by the Danish symbolist Vilhelm Hammershøi, whose interiors and portraits enjoy international renown today. Painted simply and in muted colours, they have fascinated viewers ever since the painter's rediscovery in the 1990s.

Most of Vilhelm Hammershøi's paintings depict rooms inside the various Copenhagen apartments he inhabited. With sunlight pouring through windows or open doors, Hammershøi composes solemn interiors worked in tones of blue, white, and gray. Silence permeates these genre paintings without a narrative, characterized by their powerful stillness and reduced colour palette. He has been called the "painter of solitude and light? and has been the focus of international exhibitions ever since his re-discovery in the 1990s. This focused presentation brings together a selection of masterpieces by the artist dated between 1901 and 1914.