Wilhelm Hammershoi - the Poetry of Silence

Exhibition at the Royal Academy of works by the Danish artist, Wilhelm Hammershoi.

It was well worth taking the tape tour of this exhibition as it give a good insight into the art world of Copenhagen which the labels didn’t really cover.

I was surprised by the pictures as I had imagined that they would have a jewel like finish but although they were like that from a distance the surface was much rusher. As they were quite personal and gave a view of an interior life being able to see the brush strokes seemed to give a direct connection to the artist.

The room of pictures from the artists flat at Strandgade 30 was stunning. All very tranquil and I loved the way you kept seeing the same objects in different places particularly the badly fired punch bowl. However you realised there were odd things going on with some furniture places so you couldn’t open doors and table legs throwing shadows in four different directions.

However my favourite was one of the pictures of barns in the first room. All the pictures looked at the building in a slightly cut off way. I preferred the one showing where two wings of the barn joined, despite being an external picture it was quiet claustrophobic.

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