The Buildings of the Asiatic Company, seen from St. Annæ Street, Copenhagen
Vilhelm Hammershøi (Danish, 1864–1916)
1902
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 146.5 cm, width 140.5 cm, height 159.7 cm, width 154 cm
- Culture
- Danish
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
Hammershøi found this scene near his home on Christianshavn. From the St Annæ Street he looked out towards the Asiatic Company buildings (now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) onwards to Copenhagen proper. However, the painting shows us nothing through the gateway between the two buildings. In fact it is very rare to see fogs so dense that the other side of the harbour is blocked from view, so the choice was very deliberate on the artist’s part. Thus, he made an oppressive absence the central theme of the painting. Between the buildings are suggestions of ship’s masts which might – and might not – be intended for inclusion in the painting. Hammershøi left several paintings seemingly unfinished, presumably because he believed they would not profit from being completed.
