The Art Gallery of Ontario is celebrating its recent acquisition of a powerful portrait by one of the greatest Danish painters of all time. How?
Known for his quiet, tranquil portraits and sparsely populated interiors with muted palettes, painter Vilhelm Hammershøi is celebrated as one of the greatest Danish artists of all time. Born in Copenhagen in 1864, Hammershøi was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His works rich in atmosphere and light, Hammershøi has been called a “painter of pauses, silences, and in-between spaces” by Mikkel Bogh, director of the National Gallery of Denmark.
The Art Gallery of Ontario recently acquired a lovely portrait by Hammershøi of his wife, who was a common subject in his work. To celebrate the addition, the museum has mounted an exhibition on view through June 26. Titled “Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi,” the show was “originally curated by the National Gallery of Denmark’s senior research curator, Kasper Monrad,” the museum writes. “At the center of the exhibition is the recent acquisition, Hammershøi’s ‘Interior with Four Etchings,’ from 1905. A portrait of the artist’s wife in their Copenhagen apartment, this painting has been largely unseen since its creation, and held in a private collection. The Art Gallery of Ontario was able to prevent the painting from being exported and purchased it in early 2015. It’s the first work by a Scandinavian avant-garde artist to enter the Art Gallery of Ontario’s European collection.”
To learn more, visit The Art Gallery of Ontario.
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Painting Tranquility
