HAMMERSHØI AND DANISH ART AROUND 1900

Ordrupgaard holds one of the world's finest and largest collections of the artist's works, and in the exhibition, we unfold the artist's peculiar world of motifs. Here you can experience Hammershøi's paintings of empty rooms, women seen from behind, peculiar landscapes, unusual architectural motifs, and portraits. Light pours in through tall windows, light and shadows flicker across walls and floors. Women engrossed in needlework or in their own thoughts constitute some of the artist's distinctive motifs, all rendered in Hammershøi's unusually nuanced color palette of white, gray, and black.

Hammershøi is a beacon in Danish art, and his works offer a glimpse into a world of longing, yearning, melancholy, and a quietness often associated with a particular Nordic atmosphere. L.A. Ring is another unique figure in Danish art, whose works are richly represented at Ordrupgaard. His works also revolve around the conditions and challenges of modern life in cities, and not least in the countryside, where he often found his motifs. Ring's distinctive visual world can be experienced through a series of masterworks.

Danish art around 1900 was a creative and transformative period, and the exhibition also features works by artists such as Fritz Syberg, Johannes Larsen, Peter Hansen, Bertha Wegmann, Theodor Philipsen, and Joakim Skovgaard. They shared a common inspiration from new impulses from abroad, where broader brushstrokes, a sketch-like technique, and the use of clear colors had gained traction.

Art broke free from old conventions, and many artists worked in an expanded field, where artist ceramics became a new fruitful area. The exhibition presents a fine selection of crafts with works by, among others, Thorvald Bindesbøll, Svend Hammershøi, Karen Hannover, and Suzette Holten, all of whom belonged to the experimental art scene of the time. Artists also designed furniture, and the exhibition displays furniture designed by, among others, Johan Rohde and Thorvald Bindesbøll. Art was to be brought into life.

Vilhelm Hammershøi: Woman Seen from Behind