A recent sale has prompted me to discuss the Scandinavian art market, as a unique painting by Vilhelm Hammershøi offered in New York fetched $9,124,350 US (approximately $12,250,000 CAD) after a pre-sale estimate of $3-5,000,000 US - setting a record for the highest price ever paid for a Danish artist at auction. The painting, titled Interior. The Music Room, Strandgade 30, depicts the interior of Hammershøi’s own apartment, painted in 1907 during the artist’s most famous period. Hammerschoi was best known for his ability to capture in his interiors the changing dynamics and nuances of light.

We have always enjoyed this era of Danish painting and have put together a selection of works from our gallery collection. This selection features many of Hammershøi’s contemporaries including Carl Holsøe and Georg Achen, as well as Hammershøi’s brother Svend. These works are exceptional examples and very good value at a fraction of Hammershøi’s prices.

Carl Vilhelm Holsoe (Danish 1863-1935), *Portrait of the Artist's Wife Emilie with her Needlework*, oil on lined canvas, signed lower right, Size in inches: 28 h x 28 ¾ w (with frame: 43 h x 44 w)

Carl Vilhelm Holsøe (Danish, 1863-1935), *Patience*, Oil on canvas, signed lower right "C. Holsøe", Size in inches: 27 h x 23 w (with frame: 33.75 h x 30.25 w)

Carl Vilhelm Holsøe attended the Royal Academy in Copenhagen from 1882-1884 but then transferred to the Kunstnernes Studieskole, an independent study school. There he met fellow artist Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) and studied under one of Denmark’s most famous and influential artists Peder Severin Krøyer (1851-1909). In 1883 Holsøe married Emilie Heise, who was his most frequent model. He exhibited frequently from 1886 at the Royal Danish Academy and won numerous medals and awards. He was held in high regard internationally and became enormously popular throughout Scandinavia and the rest of Europe.

Holsøe was good friends with fellow artist Vilhelm Hammershøi from the time they attended classes at Kunstnernes Studieskole, and the similarity between their works is apparent. Inspired by Dutch 17th century painters like Vermeer and De Hoock, Holsøe painted figures caught in a moment of contemplation. His paintings are infused with natural light often indirectly shining through a window or doorway, capturing the Scandinavian Northern Light. His use of direct and reflected light have been compared to that of Vermeer’s. Like his friend Hammershøi, Holsøe often used his wife as model, often turned so that her identity is not readily apparent. However unlike Hammershøi, Holsøe avoided symbolic overtones in his interiors but rather emphasized the simple narrative beauty of a quiet moment in a quiet room bathed in soft light.

Georg N. Achen (Danish, 1860-1912), *Quiet Contemplation, Interior from Buderupholm*, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "G. Achen 1907”, Exhibited: Charlottenborg, 1908, no. 5, Size in inches: 34 ¾ h x 29 ½ w (with frame: 43 h x 37 ½ w in)

This stunning work by Georg Achen was exhibited at the Danish Royal Academy in 1908. The scene depicts an interior from Buderupholm, an old manor from the Middle Ages located in North Jutland about 25 kilometers south of Aalborg. Georg Achen's education is quite similar to that of his contemporary artist friend Vilhelm Hammershøi. Like Hammershøi, Georg Achen began as a student of the drawing teacher Niels Christian Kierkegaard. He continued with Vilhelm Kyhn and was later admitted to the Danish Royal Danish Academy in 1877. In 1883, at the same time as Hammershøi, Achen moved to the Kunstnernes Studieskole where he studied under the influential Danish artist Peder Severin Krøyer.

Hans Hilsoe (Danish, 1871-1942), *Sunlit Interior*, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "H. Hilsoe 1923", Size in inches: 24 ½ h x 20 w (with frame: 30 ¾ h x 26 ¼ w)

Hans Hilsoe (Danish, 1871-1942), *A Sunny Interior with a Woman Sewing by the Window*, Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "H. Hilsoe 33", Size in inches: 20 h x 26 w (with frame: 25 h x 31 w)

Danish artist Hans Hilsøe is known for intimate formal interiors, landscapes and rural scenes bathed in natural light, often highlighted with luminous sun-lit nuances. Many of the interiors and garden settings are set in Bakkehuset, a historic house museum just West of Copenhagen focusing on literature and culture from the Danish Golden Age. These poetic, subdued and intimate interiors are a testament to the conservation of Danish cultural heritage, incorporating elegant high ceilings and traditional furniture. His work can be compared to the Dutch masters and is in the style of the famous Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916) and Carl Vilhelm Holsøe (Danish 1863-1935), but with the Danish Golden Age influence of Wilhelm Eckersberg.

Carl Birkso (Danish, 1901-1963), *Interior*, oil on canvas, signed lower right "C. Birkso", short biography in Danish on back stretcher, Size in inches: 19 h x 15 w (with frame: 23 ½ h x 19 ¾ w)

Christian Tilemann-Petersen (Danish, 1874-1926), *Interior in the Ronningesogaard Manor on the Island of Fyn (Funen) Denmark*, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right "1923 Christian Tilemann-Petersen" and inscribed on reverse "Chr. Tilemann-Petersen" and "No. 5689 Chr. Tilemann-Petersen Ronningesogaard-Fyen/ Ronningesogaard/1923/ Fyn", Size in inches: 23 ½ h x 17 ¼ w (with frame: 28 ½ h x 22 ½ w)

Svend Hammershoi (Danish, 1873-1948), *Rosenborg Castle 1940*, pencil sketch on paper, signed lower right and inscribed "Rosenborg 40", inscribed on back "Rosenborg Slot 1940" and with label, Size in inches: 29 h x 36 w (with frame: 35 h x 42 w)

Svend Hammershøi was the younger brother of the famous Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) who had a strong influenced on him. Svend attended the Copenhagen Technical College before studying at the Royal Danish Academy from 1890-1892. He then spent five years at the independent Kunstnernes Studieskoler where his brother had also studied. Interested in ceramics from the young age of 14, in 1888 he began to decorate porcelain at Kjøbenhavns Lervarefabrik in Valby where he worked with the artist Thorvald Bindesbøll from 1890-1905 as well as in Næstved with Herman Kähler and at the Bing & Grøndahl porcelain factory. He is remembered for the classical designs he contributed to these factories. When his mentor Bindesbøll died in 1908, Hammershøi lost interest in ceramics and later published a biography Thorvald Bindesbøll in Memoriam, 1846-1946. He returned to drawing and then painting, and travelled to Berlin, Dresden and finally moving to England in 1910 on a study grant where he created architectural paintings of Oxford and Wells. He returned to Denmark during WWI where he continued to paint, but traveled annually to Oxford until 1933. He exhibited internationally including in Paris and London.

Vilhelm Hammershøi. Interior. The Music Room, Strandgade 30signed with initials VH (lower right), oil on canvas, 27 ½ by 23 ¼ in. 70 by 59 cm. Executed in 1907. Image from Sotheby’s Auction House.

Featured Painting from the Scandinavian Market

Vilhelm Hammershøi was born in Copenhagen, the son of a merchant Christian Hammershøi and his wealthy wife Frederikke. Beginning at the age of eight, Hammershøi trained under Niels Christian Kierkegaard who instructed him in the tradition of Eckersberg, before attending the Royal Danish Academy and independent Kunstnernes Studieskole in Copenhagen, where he studied under the famous Danish artist Peder Severin Krøyer. During this time he befriended artists Carl Holsøe, Jens Ferdinand Willumsen, Georg Achen, Johan Rohde and Peter Ilsted, who became his brother-in-law when he married Ida Ilsted.

Vilhelm and Ida moved into an upper-floor apartment of the 17th-century building at Strandgade 30 in the Christianshavn neighbourhood. During his best period from 1898 until 1908 he explored light sources and conditions, and becoming known as a master of light. Hammershøi worked without a studio and these interiors, set in their Biedermeier apartment, were painted in place and often depicted his wife Ida. Each connected room in the apartment had a different light source, and he enjoyed depicting the different times of day

In 1908 the building at Strandgade 30 was renovated and the couple, who were renting, were forced to move. Then in 1914 Hammershøi was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx and died shortly afterwards in 1916 at the age of 52. His work is avidly collected, and the subject of numerous high-profile exhibitions worldwide including a 2005 BBC documentary narrated by Michael Palin. He is represented in museums globally including the Getty, Metropolitan, Musee d’Orsay, National Gallery, Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, and major Danish institutions. Although it is not known who purchased the recent interior at auction it is said to be going to a US institution.