Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur. Strandgade 30 · Vilhelm Hammershøi’s early artistic...

2 Press kit - HammershØi, the master of danish painting

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur. Strandgade 30, 1901, oil on canvas, 66 x 55 cm Francfort-sur-le-Main, Städel Museum, Eigentum des Städelschen Museums-Verein e.V. © Städel Museum - ARTOTHEK

CONTENTS

Page 4

PRESS RELEASE Page 7PRÉFACE BY BRUNO MONNIER, THE PRESIDENT OF CULTURESPACES Page 8

ITINERARY OF THE EXHIBITION Page 20

KEY DATES Page 23

THE EXHIBITION TEAM Page 24

THE MUSÉE JACQUEMART-ANDRÉ - INSTITUT DE FRANCE Page 26

CULTURESPACES, PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF THE EXHIBITION Page 27

SPONSOR OF THE EXHIBITION Page 28

VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS 4

AROUND THE EXHIBITION Page 35

PRACTICAL INFORMATION


In the spring of 2019, the Musée Jacquemart-André and Culturespaces will hold an exhibition devoted to the great master of Danish painting, Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916). For the first time in twenty years, the painter’s mysterious and poetic works will be exhibited in Paris.

A RETROSPECTIVE OF THE MASTER OF DANISH PAINTING Initially exhibited in Paris at the Petit Palais in 1987 and subsequently in the Musée d’Orsay in 1997, visitors were fascinated by Hammershøi’s paintings representing empty and subtly rendered interiors that sometimes feature a woman whose back faces the viewer, painted in grey and white tones.

14 MARCH–22 JULY 2019

An article on Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916) written in 1911 stated that ‘Visiting the artist at his home is like stepping inside one of his paintings’. The painter chose to represent his daily environment and the members of his inner circle in most of his works.Taciturn in temperament, he depicted in his canvases a world in his own image, imbued with a disquieting silence. The exhibition invites visitors to discover this mysterious world: by showing the artist’s links with his family and friends, who were also artists, it will shed new light on Hammershøi’s oeuvre.

C47 M4 J16 N16PANTONE 5493

THE MASTER OF DANISH PAINTING

EVERYDAY SILHOUETTES AND DISQUIETING ATMOSPHERES

Press kit - Musée Jacquemart-André 5

The exhibited paintings will represent Hammershøi’s entire oeuvre and its mysterious and profound atmosphere. A withdrawn and quiet individual, Hammershøi spent all of his life in a small circle of family and friends, all of whom constantly featured in his paintings: his mother, sister, brother, and brother-in-law all posed for him, as did several close friends. He also painted his wife, Ida, who is often seen from the back in many of the works that have made him famous.

HAMMERSHØI’S ARTISTIC CIRCLE The Musée Jacquemart-André will display Hammershøi’s art from a fresh perspective by illustrating his links with the artists in his circle. For the first time, this retrospective will compare Hammershøi’s works with paintings executed by his brother Svend Hammershøi, his brother-in-law Peter Ilsted, and his friend Carl Holsøe. This comparative approach will highlight their affinities, differences, and the unique genius of Vilhelm Hammershøi, the artist of solitude, silence, and light.

EXCEPTIONAL LOANS Forty works will reveal the mysterious and poetic world of the artist. Previously unseen works from the Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection, which are rarely exhibited during the major international retrospectives devoted to Hammershøi’s oeuvre, will be displayed for the first time in France. The exhibition will also include loaned works from major Danish and Swedish museums, such as the Statens Museum for Kunst and the Hirschprungske Samling in Copenhagen, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, and the Malmö Konstmuseum, as well as the Musée d’Orsay and London’s Tate Gallery, and from private collections. Major works will illustrate every aspect of Hammershøi’s oeuvre: his first portraits, nudes, architectural views, landscapes, and the extraordinary interior scenes that have made him so famous.

Curatorship : Jean-Loup Champion, Art historian Pierre Curie, Curator of the musée Jacquemart-André.


Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec un jeune homme lisant (Svend Hammershøi), 1898, oil on canvas, 64,4 x 51,8 cm Copenhague, Den Hirschsprungske Samling. Photo : The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen


PREFACE BY BRUNO MONNIER, THE PRESIDENT OF CULTURESPACES

Inside the World of the Enigmatic Vilhelm Hammershøi

Discovered in Paris in the retrospective organised by the Musée d’Orsay in 1997, Vilhelm Hammershoi’s oeuvre has not been exhibited in France since that year, despite the growing interest in the painter, whom many consider to be the Vermeer of the twentieth century. The Parisian public has not had an opportunity to admire the works of this great master of Danish painting for more than twenty years, and Culturespaces is proud to be the initiator of the new major exhibition devoted to his work at the Musée Jacquemart-André.

Why are people so fascinated by Hammershøi’s paintings today when they often caused a scandal in the artist’s day? The themes he explored—portraits, landscapes, several nudes, and, above all, his famous interiors—also interested his contemporaries, but he gave them an entirely personal, mysterious, and poetic coloration. Taciturn in temperament, he depicted in his canvases a world in his own image, imbued with a disquieting silence.

The exhibition invites visitors to discover this private and enigmatic world. It brings together forty works by Hammershøi, which are presented for the first time alongside several paintings by artists who were close to him: his brother Svend, his brother-in-law Peter Ilsted, and his friend Carl Holsøe. Thanks to unprecedented loans from the Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection and exceptional loans from major European museums and private collections, all the facets of Hammershøi’s work are revealed in turn. The exhibition thus highlights the modernism of this artist, who excelled in representing a solitude with which every viewer can identify.

I would particularly like to thank the exhibition’s curators, Monsieur Jean-Loup Champion, an expert on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Danish art, and Monsieur Pierre Curie, Curator of the Musée Jacquemart-André.

I would also like to extend all my gratitude to Her Excellency Mrs Kirsten Malling Biering, the Danish ambassador in France, who graciously granted her patronage to the exhibition, thereby providing us with an opportunity to strengthen the excellent relations between our two countries.

Bruno MonnierThe President of Culturespaces


ITINERARY OF THE EXHIBITION

SECTION 1. HAMMERSHØI AND HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS Vilhelm Hammershøi displayed exceptional artistic talent at an early age. He entered Copenhagen’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1879, and in 1883 he entered the Frie Studieskoler (Free Study Schools), which had been established the previous year as a more progressive alternative to the conservative Academy. Bolstered by his dual training, Hammershøi’s talent found its full expression in portraiture. His paintings were characterised by the use of a limited palette, the potency of the compositions, and their melancholic atmosphere.

In 1890, Hammershøi painted a portrait of his fiancée Ida, the sister of his friend Peter Ilsted (the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen). The young woman appears remote from the viewer, as if the artist deliberately chose not to express the sitter’s state of mind. The apparent simplicity of the portrait, which stands out against a neutral ground, conceals a radical departure from the contemporary taste for elaborate compositions. A similar departure from pictorial conventions can be seen in the self-portraits with a fixed expression that Hammershøi executed on canvas (the Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen) and on paper (the Frits Lugt Collection, Fondation Custodia, Paris) in the 1890s.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Portrait d’Ida Ilsted, future femme de l’artiste, 1890, oil on canvas, 106,5 x 86 cm Copenhague, Statens Museum for Kunst © SMK Photo/Jakob Skou-Hansen


In 1895, Hammershøi represented his wife Ida surrounded by his two sisters-in-law: Ingeborg Ilsted (on the left), Peter Ilsted’s wife, and Anna Hammershøi (on the right). The Three Young Women (the Ribe Kunstmuseum) are only linked to one another through the position of their knees, as if they formed a decorative motif without any other form of interaction. Although they are together in the same space, they appear isolated—each of the three women is absorbed in her own thoughts, living her life in a world of silence.

Hammershøi’s modernism explodes in Five Portraits (the Thielska Galleriet, Stockholm), a monumental canvas that he considered his masterpiece and which caused a scandal when it was first exhibited in 1902. The atmosphere in this representation of the group of artists who were close to Hammershøi is not in the least festive. Again, there is no interaction between the sitters, each of whom is looking in a different direction. The feeling of strangeness is enhanced by the chiaroscuro, which creates a spectacular—almost gloomy—nocturnal scene.

1. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Trois Jeunes Femmes, 1895, oil on canvas, 128 x 167 cm Ribe Kunstmuseum Danemark. Photo: ©Ribe Kunstmuseum 2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Cinq Portraits, 1901-1902, oil on canvas, 190 x 300 cm Stockholm, Thielska Galleriet. Photo credit: Tord Lund

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SECTION 2. THE FIRST INTERIORS Vilhelm Hammershøi’s early artistic inclination was encouraged by his mother, Frederikke, who, until her death in 1914, kept all the press cuttings relating to her son.

She played an important role in her son’s life; he painted two portraits of her when he was very young. Painted in 1886, the first portrait (private collection) was inspired by the composition of the famous portrait of the mother of James McNeill Whistler, which is held in the Musée d’Orsay, attesting to Hammershøi’s lifelong admiration of the American painter. Three years later, he depicted his mother knitting on a couch in three quarters (the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm,).

The artist’s interest in these daily activities, which is also evident in other early works, such as Woman Standing (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection) and A Bakery Shop (the Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig), remained with him throughout his career. These canvases are accompanied by a later work, Interior With Young Man Reading, for which his younger brother Svend posed: as is often the case, Vilhelm chose one of his relatives to pose for the work.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec un jeune homme lisant (Svend Hammershøi), 1898, oil on canvas, 64,4 x 51,8 cm Copenhague, Den Hirschsprungske Samling. Photo : The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen


Like Hammershøi, his friend Carl Holsøe and his brother-in-law Peter Ilsted liked to represent interiors, a subject that was very popular among young Danish painters at the turn of the twentieth century. Although their subjects are identical, the atmosphere and feeling that emanate from their compositions are very different. While a mysterious melancholy emanates from Hammershøi’s canvases, executed in subtle shades of grey, the soft and slightly faded tones used by Holsøe and Ilsted give their works a warmer and more comforting atmosphere.

The often cold clarity with which Hammershøi’s paintings are imbued is replaced in Holsøe’s work by diffuse light, which illuminates the background, in order to highlight the elegance of a bourgeois apartment (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection).

In Ilsted’s Mother and Child (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection), the room is more scantily furnished, but the tenderness in this family scene also evokes a comfortable daily lifestyle. Presented in the Danish pavilion at the 1900 Exposition Universelle, Ilsted’s second Interior (the Musée d’Orsay, Paris) was acquired by the French state, whereas none of the eleven paintings presented by Hammershøi found buyers. Today, the comparison between the two artists is to the advantage of Hammershøi, whose more radical aesthetics appeal to contemporary taste.

1. Carl Holsøe, La Femme de l’artiste dressant la table, 1884-1888, oil on canvas, 73 x 65 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005 2. Peter Ilsted, Intérieur, 1896, oil on canvas, 69 x 69 cm Paris, musée d’Orsay. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

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SECTION 3. BETWEEN FANTASY AND REALITY: LANDSCAPES In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Danish Golden Age painters particularly excelled in the art of landscape painting. Hammershøi followed this tradition, but gave his works a very different meaning and atmosphere. The landscape that he painted at the age of sixteen and which represents a diagonal row of trees in the countryside (the Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection) is in line with the landscapes painted by his illustrious predecessors, but his subsequent landscapes do not demonstrate the same connection with nature. The artist imbued his landscapes with an implacable detachment, transforming them into interior landscapes.

Although Hammershøi chose to depict typical Zealand sites, which had inspired many Danish artists before him, he removed any everyday or picturesque details. Beneath the silvery light of the skies, stretch distant horizon lines, punctuated by trees, without any human presence. Hammershøi’s landscapes veer towards abstraction by avoiding any details that could divert the viewer’s attention and by making the sky a dominant feature, such as in Landscape from Lejre (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) and in the view of Refsnæs (the Thielska Galleriet, Stockholm), which he painted during the summer of 1900 in the region, which he had discovered through his brother Svend. Likewise, the background often appears to dissolve in order to highlight the trees along the central line of the painting (Landscape, private collection).

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Paysage, 1900, oil on canvas, 63 x 78 cm Stockholm, Thielska Galleriet. Photo credit: Tord Lund


SECTION 4. URBAN LANDSCAPES: SUSPENDED TIME In his paintings representing buildings, Hammershøi adopted the same radical approach. He dissolved the details in a sort of haze, as shown by the unique comparison of two views of the Church of St Peter in Copenhagen, one of the oldest monuments in the centre of the city. Hammershøi did not represent the adjacent houses in the densely populated neighbourhood or any human figures in the street. Only the church is shown in the scene, with its bell tower and a tree with bare branches. In the canvas from The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection, the church stands out very clearly against a grey-blue sky, while in the version from the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen it merges into a grey-brown sky. The view of The Jewish School in Guilford Street (the Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf, Schleswig), which Hammershøi painted several years later during his sojourn in London in 1912–1913, is suffused with the same veiled light. There are also bare trees—one of the artist’s favourite motifs—in the foreground. The painting’s predominantly blue tonality enhances the sensation of cold and humidity and, as in all of Hammershøi’s urban landscapes, the ensemble gives the impression of a ghost city.

In the Ruins of Koldinghus Castle, painted by his younger brother Svend (the Museet på Koldinghus Collection, Kolding), the influence of Vilhelm Hammershøi is very evident. It is also a winter landscape, whose foreground is full of disturbing bare trees. However, the stylistic similarity is counterbalanced by the use of warmer tones for the castle’s tower and the sky, and by an interest in the picturesque, which is completely absent in Vilhelm’s compositions.

1. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Église Saint-Pierre, Copenhague, 1906, oil on canvas, 78 x 51,5 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005 2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Église Saint-Pierre, Copenhague, 1906, oil on canvas, 133 x 118 cm Copenhague, Statens Museum for Kunst © SMK Photo/Jakob Skou-Hansen 3. Vilhelm Hammershøi, L’École juive de Guilford Street (Londres), 1912-1913, oil on canvas, 51 x 41,5 cm Schleswig, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf © Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf

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SECTION 5. VARIATIONS ON THE THEME OF THE FEMALE NUDE The theme of the nude, which represents a small proportion of Hammershøi’s work, is undoubtedly a lesser-known side of his oeuvre. As with the other themes tackled by the artist, this theme is part of the tradition of the Danish Golden Age painters. As is typical of Hammershøi, he transformed the traditional models in order to represent an entirely personal vision on the canvas, in a limited palette dominated by shades of grey. Hence, the sensual nudes depicted by artists in the first half of the nineteenth century were replaced by studies executed with an almost clinical sobriety.

Although the small Sitter (Mr David Kell and Mrs Marie Dahl Kell) is an early work, Hammershøi painted most of his nudes in the last part of his career. These works were executed from living models, but the identity of these women without faces (Nude, Bruun Rasmussen) or with faces inclined (Half-Length Nude, Malmö Konstmuseum) remains unknown.

The Three Studies of the Female Nude from the Malmö Konstmuseum are preparatory sketches for two paintings that Hammershøi executed in 1909 and 1910, including the monumental Female Nude from the Davids Samling Collection in Copenhagen. In these canvases, Hammershøi represented the figures without any idealisation in very cold shades of grey. The treatment of the light, which was only used to create the volumes, strengthens the sculptural aspect of the figures, which stand out against a neutral ground, which was created by means of rapid brushstrokes in shades of grey.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Nu féminin, 1910, oil on canvas, 172,5 x 96,5 cm Copenhague, Davids Samling © Pernille Klemp


SECTION 6. THE ART OF SOBRIETY The apartments that Hammershøi successively occupied with his wife Ida, and more specifically the apartment located at 30, Strandgade, where they lived from 1898 to 1909, provided the artist with an endless source of inspiration.

It was in fact in these rooms that he painted the extraordinary series of interiors for which he so famous. The residences of wealthy Danish families were richly furnished and decorated, as attested by photographs taken at the time. Vilhelm and Ida Hammershøi had more sober tastes: their apartments were scantily furnished and they carefully chose the paintings, objects, and books in their apartments.

But for Hammershøi the apartments were not merely residences, but also veritable studios.

The rooms in which he lived became the setting and even the subject of many works, in which lines and light play a fundamental role. When one compares photographs of the artist’s apartment with his works, it is evident that he adopted a selective approach to the painting: he left out certain decorative elements and deliberately simplified his interiors, omitting any superfluous details, thereby capturing a motif in its entirety.

Vilhelm Hammershøi dans le salon de Bredgade 25, vers 1912 The Royal Danish Library © The Royal Danish Library


SECTION 7. EVERYDAY SILHOUETTES AND DISQUIETING ATMOSPHERES Amongst the young artists in the Danish avant-garde, Carl Holsøe was the first to exhibit an interior scene, familiarising the general public with a genre for which his friend Vilhelm Hammershøi would soon become well known. While Holsøe’s works evoke a certain idea of domestic happiness (ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum), Hammershøi’s interior scenes—even though they feature familiar silhouettes—are imbued with a disquieting strangeness.

The artist’s wife is almost exclusively portrayed in these works, and she is often represented with her back to the viewer, as in Interior with a Woman Standing (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection), which provides a striking résumé of Hammershøi’s art. In these interiors, Ida poses like a model rather than for a portrait, even when she faces the viewer and is perfectly recognisable. Hammershøi wanted to capture the silhouette of a person absorbed in her tasks or thoughts, and whose movements appear to be suspended.

The various paintings attest to the artist’s infinite variations on the same motif, viewed from different angles. Visible in a corner behind Ida in Interior with Woman Placing Branches in Vase on Table (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection), the typically Nordic metal wood stove is also present in the background of the Interior, painted in 1899 and held in the Tate. This work is somewhat stifling, an impression generated by the compositional arrangement and the posture of the woman, who appears to be pressed up against the table. This round mahogany table also plays an important role in Interior, Strandgade 30, which was painted the same year (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection).

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1. Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916), Intérieur avec une femme debout, n.d, oil on canvas, 67,5 x 54,3 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005

2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec une femme arrangeant des fleurs, 1900, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005


The same oppressive feeling is present in Interior With a Woman Seen From the Back in Stockholm’s Nationalmuseum, as a result of Hammershøi’s treatment of the vertical and horizontal lines. Only the oval mirror interrupts this arrangement, but it reflects nothing. Equally mysterious is the famous work Hvile in the Musée d’Orsay. While the title means ‘rest’, as does the slightly hunched figure of the silhouette seen from the back, the closeness of the sides of the painting seems to have a restrictive effect on the woman.

Painted during the same period, Courtyard Interior at Strandgade 30 (The Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection) is an interior without being one as it represents the courtyard of the building in which Hammershøi was living, seen from a window in the apartment. Ida, wearing a white scarf on her head, is leaning out of the facing window. With her face inclined, her expression is once again obscured, as is the meaning of her husband’s mysterious interior scenes.

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1. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Hvile dit aussi Repos, 1905, oil on canvas, 49,5 x 46,5 cm Paris, musée d’Orsay, achat avec la participation de Philippe Meyer, 1996. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / René-Gabriel Ojéda 2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec une femme de dos, 1898, oil on canvas, 51,5 x 46 cm Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Suède, Gift of Karia Manwaring Robertson in memory of her late mother, Florence Löwenadler, 1946 Photo: Nationalmuseum 3. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Cour, Strandgade 30, 1905, oil on canvas, 75 x 63 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005


SECTION 8. POETRY OF VOIDS AND LIGHT Hammershøi painted his first empty interior in 1888 in the apartment of his friend Karl Madsen, a painter, art historian, and future director of the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. The first thing one notices is the wood stove standing in a corner, which was one of the artist’s recurrent motifs. In this experimental picture, which is held in a private collection, it is The White Door (the title of the work) that provides all the light.

The contrast with the dark room is starker than in later works, in which the play of light is rendered with far greater subtlety via a highly detailed technique.

Hammershøi created his paintings slowly, with small brushstrokes, and this enabled him to represent on the canvas the tiniest variations in the light. Whether focusing on the effects of light on matt surfaces, like a tablecloth or a door (Interior, Strandgade 30, Musée d’Orsay, Paris), or reflections of light through a window, he sought to convey all its vibrations. Working exclusively in his apartment, his work ranged from a sparse interior traversed by a geometric light (Sunshine in the Drawing Room III, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum) to the representation of a window casting a soft halo of light on the floor (Interior, Sunlight on the Floor, Tate, London). His technique was based on a restricted palette of colours, including many shades of grey, which was sometimes tinted with yellow.

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1. Vilhelm Hammershøi, La Porte blanche, 1888, oil on canvas, 61,7 x 54,3 cm Collection particulière 2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Rayon de soleil dans le salon, III, 1903, oil on canvas, 54 x 66 cm Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Suède. Photo: Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum


The light appears to absorb the reality of the objects to better convey their essence, as in the Malmö Konstmuseum’s Interior With Potted Plant on Card Table, Bredgade 25. This interior is more furnished than others, yet the lack of human presence creates a feeling of serenity, which is often absent when a figure is represented.

Given the impression of immobility that emanates from his paintings, one might be tempted to believe that Hammershøi always worked in the same place, constantly painting the same interior scenes, even though he travelled a great deal and moved several times. It is as though the artist was unaffected by the places he travelled to and the people he met, and as if he only ever travelled in his own world. Hammershøi’s oeuvre—with the stillness and unchanging nature of his interiors, which seem to be suspended in time and space—is still extraordinary today.

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec un pot de fleurs, Bredgade 25, 1910 - 1911, oil on canvas, 78,5 x 71 cm Malmö Konstmuseum, Suède © Vilhelm Hammershøi /Matilda Thulin / Malmö Art Museum


15 May 1864: Vilhelm Hammershøi is born in Ved Stranden 2, Copenhagen, and is the second son of the merchant Christian P. Hammershøi (1828–1893) and Frederikke, née Rentzmann (1838–1914), in a building that belonged to his grandfather, the shipowner C. F. Rentzmann.

1872: Vilhelm Hammershøi studies drawing with Niels Christian Kierkegaard—a former pupil of C. W. Eckersberg at the Kunstakademiet (Copenhagen’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts)—until 1876.

1877-1878: He studies with Carl F. Andersen and Holger Grønvold, who was a pupil of Henri Lehmann at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He is taught painting by Frederik Rohde and Vilhelm Kyhn.

1879: In October he enrols on the preparatory course at the Academy where he is a student until April 1884. Here, he meets Carl Holsøe, Peter Ilsted, and J. F. Willumsen, who remain his friends until his death.

1883: He studies at De frie Studieskoler under the direction of P. S. Krøyer.

1885: He takes part, for the first time, in the spring exhibition at the Academy in Charlottenborg and in the Academy’s Neuhaus Prize with his entry entitled Portrait of a Girl, which he does not win, despite the complaints from many artists. He visits Berlin and Dresden. Frederikke Hammershøi begins her first scrapbook devoted to Vilhelm Hammershøi, to which she contributes until her death in 1914.

1887: He travels around Holland (Amsterdam, Haarlem, The Hague, and Rotterdam) and Belgium (Antwerp, Bruges, and Brussels).

1888: Vilhelm Hammershøi’s painting Young Girl Sewing is rejected by the Charlottenborg exhibition, but is displayed in a protest exhibition along with other rejected works. His pain-ting is bought by the dentist Alfred Bramsen (1851–1932), who becomes the main collector, sponsor, and biographer of the painter’s work. During the summer, Vilhelm Hammershøi stays at Lingby to the north of Copenhagen in the home of the painter and art historian Karl Madsen. Here, he paints his first interior scene.

1889: He stays in Paris during the Exposition Universelle, where he exhibits four paintings.

VILHELM HAMMERSHØI : KEY DATES


1890: Hammershøi is engaged to Ida Ilsted, the sister of his friend Peter Ilsted at the Acade-my and daughter of the merchant J. P. Ilsted.The Charlottenborg exhibition rejects his painting Bedroom, which encourages Hammershøi’s friend, the painter Johan Rohde, to establish ‘Den frie Udstilling’ (‘The Free Exhibition’), based on the Paris Salon des Refusés, in which Hammershøi takes part. In July, the French critic Théodore Duret travels to Copenhagen, where he admires the paintings he discovers at the homes of Alfred Bramsen, Karl Madsen, and the artist’s parents.

1891: As a founding member, Hammershøi takes part in the first exhibition of ‘Den frie Udstilling’. He goes to Paris with Ida, travelling through Holland and Belgium. They rent an apartment on Avenue Kléber and regularly see J. F. Willumsen, who has already settled in Paris. Hammershøi often visits the Louvre, in particular to copy an archaic Greek bas-relief. He meets the art dealer Durand-Ruel and Théodore Duret, who is interested in painting. 1892: The couple return to Copenhagen, where they move to Rahbeks Allé in the Frederiks-berg district. 1893 : Christian Hammershøi, the artist’s father, dies on 27 April. Vilhem Hammershøi receives a grant from the Academy to travel and visit Florence, Fiesole, Sienna, Padua, Venice, and Verona. 1894: He exhibits his large painting Artemis at ‘Den frie Udstilling’ in the spring. 1895: Commissioned by the luthier Emile Hjorth, Hammershøi paints the group portrait Three Young Women.

1897: Serge Diaghilev purchases two of Hammershøi’s paintings (which have not been located to this day). The couple travels to London in October, where they stay until December.

1898: In September, Hammershøi moves to the apartment at Strangade 30 (on the first floor), where he paints most of his interiors scenes.

1900: A retrospective exhibition of Hammershøi’s work is held at the Kunstforeningen (Copenhagen Art Society). Alfred Bramsen compiles the first list of his works. 1901: Hammershøi begins his large work Five Portraits, which he exhibits at ‘Den frie Udstilling’ (‘The Free Exhibition’) the following year.


1903: In Copenhagen, through Alfred Bramsen, he meets the English pianist Leonard Borwick, who introduces him to British artistic circles.

1905: He is visited by Paul Cassirer, who buys several of his paintings. A monographic exhibi-tion of Hammershøi’s works is held in Berlin.

1907: A monographic exhibition of Hammershøi’s works is held in London in the Van Wisselingh Gallery and he takes part in the exhibition of Danish art at the Guildhall Art Gallery. He travels with Ida to Italy but they are mistakenly arrested by the police in Florence, who believe they are forgers. They are shocked by this and depart the same day for Copenhagen.

1909: Hammershøi becomes a member of the Academy’s General Assembly. 1911: He is awarded the First Prize of 10,000 lire at the International Art Exhibition in Rome.

1912: The Uffizi in Florence commissions a self-portrait for its famous collection of self-portraits of artists. 1914: Frederikke Hammershøi dies on 11 June. Vilhem Hammershøi already has throat can-cer. 1915: Gravely ill, he paints his last painting, which is now held in private collection.

1916: He dies on 13 February in the municipal hospital of Copenhagen. The funeral takes place in the church of Frederiksberg, where his coffin is carried by his friends, including Carl Holsøe and Peter Ilsted. A commemorative exhibition is held at the Kunstforeningen (Copenhagen Art Society).


THE ARTISTIC PROJECT TEAM

CURATORSHIP

PRODUCTION AND REALISATION

Jean-Loup Champion is an art historian and exhibition curator. He is a specialist in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Western sculpture, and has had works published on the subject of French Romantic sculpture; he has also overseen the publication of the books Mille Peintures des Musées de France (1993) and Mille Sculptures des Musées de France (1998). He has made an in-depth study of and collected nineteenth- and twentieth-century Danish art. He has curated various exhibitions, for which he has compiled the catalogues: ‘Gaston Lachaise 1882-1935’, at La Piscine-Musée d’Art et d’Industrie André Diligent (2003), in Roubaix; ‘Henry de Waroquier Sculpteur (1881-1970)’ in the museums of Roubaix, Lons-le-Saunier, La Rochelle, and Mont-de-Marsan (2013–2014); ‘Un siècle d’or de la peinture danoise. Une collection française’, at La Piscine-Musée d’Art and d’Industrie André Diligent, Roubaix, and in the Musée d’Art Moderne André Malraux (2013–2014), in Le Havre; ‘Jean-René Gauguin (1881-1961) sculpteur et céramiste’, at La Piscine-Musée d’Art and d’Industrie André Diligent, in Roubaix, and at the Maison du Danemark (2014), in Paris; and ‘Le trésor de Naples. Les joyaux de San Gennaro’, in the Musée Maillol (2014), in Paris.

Pierre Curie is chief curator of heritage. Specialist of Italian and Spanish painting of the XVIIth century, he has also worked on the French painting of the XIXth century at the Musée du Petit Palais, where he started his career. Then in charge of the painting at the General Inventory, he has co-authored and led the Vocabulaire typologique et technique de la peinture et du dessin (published in 2009). Appointed head of the painting sector of the restoration department for the Centre de recherche et de restauration des Musées de France in 2007, he coordinated and followed some major restorations of paintings of national museums (Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Rembrandt, Poussin...). Currently director of the Revue de l’Art, Pierre Curie is curator of the Musée Jacquemart-André since January 2016.

Milly Passigli, Director delegate of programming, Agnès Wolff, Director of Cultural Production, Eléonore Lacaille, Exhibition Manager at the musée Jacquemart-André, Amélie Carriere, Exhibition Registrar at the musée Jacquemart-André, Aude Chaufourier, Project Manager and Livia Lérès who is responsible for iconography at Culturespaces.

SCENOGRAPHYHubert le Gall is a French designer, scenographer, artist, and contemporary art sculptor. Since 2000, he has been creating original scenographies for numerous exhibitions, including the Musée Jacquemart-André with Rembrandt intime (2016), De Zurbarán à Rothko, la collection Alicia Koplowitz (2017), Le jardin secret des Hansen, la collection Ordrupgaard (2017), Mary Cassatt, une impressionniste américaine à Paris (2018) and Caravage. Amis et Ennemis (2018). For this exhibition, Hubert le Gall has created a highly refined scenography, whose sobriety echoes Hammershøi’s enigmatic interiors.


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THE MUSÉE JACQUEMART-ANDRÉ - INSTITUT DE FRANCE

The musée Jacquemart-André, the home of collectors from the late 19th century, offers the public, in this temple of art, numerous works of art bearing the most famous signatures of :

• Italian Renaissance art : Della Robbia, Bellini, Mantegna, Uccello, etc. • Flemish painting : Rembrandt, Hals, Ruysdaël, etc. • French painting of the 18th century: Boucher, Chardin, Fragonard, Vigée-Lebrun, etc. together with significant items of furniture, indicative of Édouard André and Nélie Jacquemart’s taste for the decorative arts.

This collection boasts exceptional visitor facilities which makes it accessible to everyone. With more than 2 millions visitors since it reopened in March 1996, the Musée Jacquemart-André is one of the top museums in Paris.The André mansion very quickly became the Jacquemart- André mansion, so great was the role which Nélie Jacquemart was able to play in its evolution and development. This mansion and its collections appear today as the legacy which this wealthy and childless couple, who dedicated their lives to the finest aspects of art, wished to leave to posterity. The beneficiary of this asset, the Institut de France, has since strived to ensure that Nélie Jacquemart’s wishes are respected and to introduce her lovingly compiled collections to as many people as possible.

Art, the lifeblood of Édouard and Nélie André, enabled this pair of collectors to gather, in just a few decades, almost 5,000 works, many of which are of exceptional quality. To satisfy their eclectic tastes, the Andrés were able, with rigour and determination, to call on the greatest antiques dealers and traders, travel the world in search of rare objects, spend considerable sums of money on masterpieces, sacrifice second-rate pieces - and sometimes even return them to the seller - in order to be true to their criteria of excellence, which makes the Jacquemart-André mansion a top international museum. Like the Frick Collection in New York, the musée Jacquemart-André combines presenting an exceptional 19th century collectors’ house with visitor facilities which meet the expectations of people today.

President of the Fondation Jacquemart-André: Alain Pasquier, member of the Institut. Conservation of the musée Jacquemart-André : Pierre Curie and Hélène Echiffre.


- 2018 : Caravage à Rome. Amis et Ennemis - 2018 : Mary Cassatt, une impressionniste américaine à Paris - 2017 : Le jardin secret des Hansen, la collection Ordrupgaard- 2017 : De Zurbaran à Rothko - Collection Alicia Koplowitz - Grupo Omega Capital- 2016 : Rembrandt Intime- 2016 : L’Atelier en plein air - Les Impressionnistes en Normandie - 2015 : Florence, portraits à la cour des Médicis - 2015 : De Giotto à Caravage, les passions de Roberto Longhi - 2014 : Le Pérugin, Maître de Raphaël - 2014 : De Watteau à Fragonard, les fêtes galantes - 2013 : Désirs & Volupté à l’époque victorienne

Created in 1795 in order to contribute on a non-profit basis to the renown of the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, the Institute de France (French Institute) groups together five academies: the French Academy, the Academy of inscriptions & belles-lettres, the Academy of sciences, Academy of fine arts and the Academy of moral & political sciences. It is one of the most prestigious institutions practicing philanthropy and administering donations and legacies (more than 23 million euros distributed each year through its foundations). Under the protection of the President of the Republic, the Institute is also the guardian of an important heritage : the Palais du quai de Conti, four librairies included the Mazarine, and residences that have been bequeathed to it since the late 19th century (the Château de Chantilly, the Musée Jacquemart-André, the abbey de Chaalis, the chateau de Langeais, the manoir de Kerazan as well as the Villa Kérylos).

- 2013 : Eugène Boudin- 2012 : Canaletto – Guardi, les deux maîtres de Venise- 2012 : Le Crépuscule des Pharaons- 2011 : Fra Angelico et les Maîtres de la lumière- 2011 : Dans l’intimité des frères Caillebotte, Peintre et Photographe- 2010 : Rubens, Poussin et les peintres du XVIIe siècle - 2010 : Du Greco à Dalí. Les grands maitres espagnols de la collection Pérez Simón- 2009 : Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck… La collection Brukenthal- 2009 : Les Primitifs Italiens. Chefs-d’œuvre de la collection d’Altenbourg- 2008 : Van Dyck

Recent exhibitions produced by Culturespaces at the Jacquemart-André Museum:


CULTURESPACES, PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR OF THE EXHIBITION

With more than twenty-eight years of experience and four million visitors a year, Culturespaces—founded in 1990 by Bruno Monnier—is the leading private operator in the management and promotion of monuments, museums, and art centres. Since 2012, Culturespaces is also one pioneer in the creation of digital art centres and immersive digital exhibitions.

Sites promoted and managed by Culturespaces:- the Atelier des Lumières (en 2018),- the Musée Maillol, Paris (since 2016),- the Hôtel de Caumont - Art Centre, Aix-en-Provence (since 2015),- the Carrières de Lumières, Les Baux-de-Provence (since 2012),- the Maison Carrée, the Tour Magne and Nîmes Amphitheatre (since 2006),- the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire and the Antique Theatre in Orange (since 2002), - the Cité de l’Automobile, Mulhouse (since 1999),- the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris (since 1996), - the Castle of Baux-de-Provence (since 1993),- the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat (since 1992).

Culturespaces oversees the promotion of the venues and collections, the reception of the general public, the management of staff and all the services, cultural animation, the holding of temporary exhibitions, and the sites’ national and international communication. Aware of the importance of preserving the national heritage for future generations, Culturespaces also contributes each year to funding restoration campaigns on the monuments and collections it manages.

Culturespaces ensures the highest standards for the reception of the general public and its venues are open seven days a week; it offers visitors free audio guides, applications, Wi-Fi, and activity books, as well as discounted admission prices for families, young persons, and the elderly.

www.culturespaces.com


SPONSOR OF THE EXHIBITION

THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS granted the exhibition on the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi. The grant is given specifically to the scientific research and the educational promotion of the exhibition.

THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS hope that this grant will contribute to the worldwide knowledge and interest in the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi and his unique interpretation of and artistic skills to paint light.

THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS are comprised of the two philanthropic foundations VILLUM FONDEN and VELUX FONDEN. Among the grant areas are science, environmental, so-cial and cultural purposes in Denmark and internationally.

Both foundations were established by graduate engineer Villum Kann Rasmussen - the founder of VELUX and other companies in the VKR Group, whose mission it is to bring daylight, fresh air and a better environment into people’s everyday lives.

www.veluxfoundations.dk


VISUALS AVAILABLE FOR THE PRESS

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1. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Portrait d’Ida Ilsted, future femme de l’artiste, 1890, oil on canvas, 106,5 x 86 cm Copenhague, Statens Museum for Kunst © SMK Photo/Jakob Skou-Hansen

2. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Trois Jeunes Femmes, 1895, oil on canvas, 128 x 167 cm Ribe Kunstmuseum Danemark. Photo: © Ribe Kunstmuseum 3. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Autoportrait, 1895, black chalk on tan paper, 24,20 x 22,9 cm Paris, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt. Photo : Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris 4. Carl Holsøe, La Femme de l’artiste dressant la table, 1884-1888, oil on canvas, 73 x 65 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005 5. Peter Ilsted, Intérieur, 1896, oil on canvas, 69 x 69 cm Paris, musée d'Orsay. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski 6. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec un jeune homme lisant (Svend Hammershøi), 1898, oil on canvas, 64,4 x 51,8 cm Copenhague, Den Hirschsprungske Samling. Photo : The Hirschsprung Collection, Copenhagen


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7. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Rayon de soleil dans le salon, III, 1903, oil on canvas, 54 x 66 cm Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Suède. Photo: Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum

8. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur. Strandgade 30, 1901, oil on canvas, 66 x 55 cm Francfort-sur-le-Main, Städel Museum, Eigentum des Städelschen Museums-Verein e.V. © Städel Museum - ARTOTHEK 9. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Cour, Strandgade 30, 1905, oil on canvas, 75 x 63 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005 10. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec une femme arrangeant des fleurs , 1900, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005 11. Vilhelm Hammershoi (1864-1916), Intérieur avec une femme debout, n.d, oil on canvas, 67,5 x 54,3 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005


12. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Hvile dit aussi Repos, 1905, oil on canvas, 49,5 x 46,5 cm Paris, musée d'Orsay, achat avec la participation de Philippe Meyer, 1996. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / René-Gabriel Ojéda

13. Carl Holsøe, Intérieur, femme lisant, 1886, huile sur toile, 59 x 60 cm ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum © Ole Hein Pedersen, belong to Aros Artmuseum 14. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur, Strandgade 30, 1904, oil on canvas, 55,5 x 46,4 cm Paris, musée d'Orsay, donation de Philippe Meyer, 2000. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée d'Orsay) / Adrien Didierjean 15. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur, 1899, oil on canvas, 64,5 x 58,1 Londres, Tate: Presented in memory of Leonard Borwick by his friends through the Art Fund 1926 © Tate, London 2014

16. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur, Strandgade 30, 1899, oil on canvas, 66 x 54 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005

17. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec une chaise Windsor, 1913, oil on canvas, 73,5 x 54 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005

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18. Vilhelm Hammershøi, L’École juive de Guilford Street (Londres), 1912-1913, oil on canvas, 51 x 41,5 cm Schleswig, Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf © Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landesmuseen Schloss Gottorf

19. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Église Saint-Pierre, Copenhague, 1906, oil on canvas, 78 x 51,5 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005 20. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Église Saint-Pierre, Copenhague, 1906, oil on canvas, 133 x 118 cm Copenhague, Statens Museum for Kunst © SMK Photo/Jakob Skou-Hansen 21. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Paysage de Virum près de Frederiksdal, été, 1888, oil on canvas, 26 x 45 cm Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Danish Art Collection © TX0006154704, registered March 22, 2005

22. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec une femme de dos, 1898, oil on canvas, 51,5 x 46 cm Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Suède, Gift of Karia Manwaring Robertson in memory of her late mother, Florence Löwenadler, 1946 Photo: Nationalmuseum

23. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Nu féminin, 1910, oil on canvas, 172,5 x 96,5 cm Copenhague, Davids Samling © Pernille Klemp

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24. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur avec un pot de fleurs, Bredgade 25, 1910 - 1911, oil on canvas, 78,5 x 71 cm Malmö Konstmuseum, Suède © Vilhelm Hammershøi /Matilda Thulin / Malmö Art Museum

25. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Paysage, 1900, oil on canvas, 63 x 78 cm Stockholm, Thielska Galleriet. Photo credit: Tord Lund 26. Vilhelm Hammershøi, Cinq Portraits, 1901-1902, oil on canvas, 190 x 300 cm Stockholm, Thielska Galleriet. Photo credit: Tord Lund 27. Vilhelm Hammershøi, La Porte blanche, 1888, oil on canvas, 61,7 x 54,3 cm Collection particulière

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THE CATALOGUE

To complement the exhibition Hammershøi, le maître de la peinture danoise, Culturespaces and Fonds Mercator are publishing a 176-page catalogue that includes all the works presented in the exhibition. On sale for €32 in the musée Jacquemart-André’s cultural gift shop and online : www.boutique-culturespaces.com.

A SPECIAL EDITION OF CONNAISSANCE DES ARTSThe special edition of Connaissance des Arts provides a very interesting overview of the theme of the exhibition.

On sale in the musée Jacquemart-André’s cultural gift shop and online : www.boutique-culturespaces.com.

THE JOURNAL DE L’EXPO - BEAUX-ARTS MAGAZINE

The ‘Journal de l’expo’ Beaux Arts magazine retraces Hammershøi and explores the various facets of his work.

On sale in the cultural gift shop.

THE GUIDED TOUR FOR SMARTPHONE AND TABLET

This application, which is available in French and English, enables you to discover the finest works in the exhibition thanks to around twenty audio commentaries and the exhibition preview. The visit is in very high definition with an exceptional zoom depth. Cost: €2.99

THE GUIDE AUDIO

An audio guide with a selection of major works is available in two languages (French and English) at a cost of €3.

THE ACTIVITY BOOK FOR YOUNG CHILDREN

Given freely to each child (7–12 years old) who visits the exhibition, this activity book provides a guide that enables youngsters to observe, in an entertaining way, the major works in the exhibition by solving various puzzles.

AROUND THE EXHIBITION


ADDRESS Musée Jacquemart-André158 boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris Métro : Lignes 9 et 13, stations Saint-Augustin, Miromesnil ou Saint-Philippe-du-Roule RER : Ligne A, station Charles de Gaulle-Étoile Bus : Lignes 22, 43, 52, 54, 28, 80, 83, 84, 93

OPENING TIMES 14 March - 22 July 2019 Open every day, from 10am to 6pm. Late night opening on Mondays until 8.30pm during exhibitions.

LE CAFÉ JACQUEMART-ANDRÉThe café is opened from Monday to Friday from 11.45 am to 5.30 pmand from 11 am to 5.30 pm on Sunday for brunch (until 2.30 pm).

RATESFull Rate : 14,5 € I Reduced Rate : 11,5 €Youth Rate : 9,5 € I Senior Rate : 13,5 €Family offer : 42 € (2 adults et 2 children from 7 to 25 years old)

PRESS CONTACT Damien Laval, Claudine Colin Communication [email protected] T. +33(0)1 42 72 60 01 / 06 07 09 66 59

WEB www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com #ExpoHammershoi

INFORMATIONS PRATIQUES

Musée Jacquemart-André facebook.com/MuseeJacquemartAndre

@jacquemartandre instagram.com/jacquemartandre @jacquemartandre twitter.com/jacquemartandre

PARTNERS

158 bd. Haussmann - 75008 ParisOpen every day, from 10am to 6pmLate night opening on Mondays until 8.30pm during exhibitions.www.musee-jacquemart-andre.com

PRESS CONTACTClaudine Colin Communicationdamien [email protected] T. +33(0)1 42 72 60 01

Vilhelm Hammershøi, Intérieur. Strandgade 30 · Vilhelm Hammershøi’s early artistic...

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