Interior with the Artist's Easel
Vilhelm Hammershøi (Danish, 1864–1916)
1910
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- height 84 cm, width 69 cm, height 98.4 cm, width 83.5 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
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
Vilhelm Hammershøi has risen from his chair in front of the easel, changing position to paint it from the back. While this is not a self-portrait in the traditional sense, it is a picture rich in references to the artist’s profession and favourite subjects: Hammershøi’s home and studio, his chair, and the open door with a view of the faience bowl standing on an older piece of Empire furniture. On the wall hangs a print in a gold frame. Hammershøi collected older art, especially from the Danish Golden Age, together with his wife, Ida. Incidentally, she was another of his favourite props. Hammershøi is absent yet at the same time very present. Which is typical of his interiors. They stage a world that facilitates overview and control. Horizontal and vertical lines, doorways and window sections, easel and furniture: all these elements are like stage dressing which, guided by the superb hand of the artist constructing the images, turn into the most perfect scenes (50 Favorites in the SMK Collection).
