Vilhelm Hammershøi 

In both Vermeer and Hammershøi's paintings: ". . . this very special light lies softly on persons and objects like a silent veil, infusing the entire atmosphere with magic." -Federico Zeri-

Hammershøi is not one of those about whom one must speak quickly. His work is long and slow, and at whichever moment one apprehends it, it will offer plentiful reason to speak of what is important and essential in art. -Rainer Maria Rilke-

As interfaces, windows embody the dialectical relationship between interior and exterior: they stand both for connection with the outside world and for isolation from it. In Hammershøi's interior they are always closed, and his figures appear motionless behind their glass panes. -Felix Krämer-

In Vermeer’s paintings, the importance can be noted – in the balance between light and shadows – of what appear as veritable luminous flames, capable of breaking through the areas of shadow and transmitting and propagating the natural light reflected on the objects. -Federico Zeri-

Do you know a painter by the name of Jan van der Meer? He painted a Dutch lady, beautiful, very refined, who is pregnant. This strange painter's palette consists of blue, lemon yellow, pearl gray, black and white . . . bringing together lemon yellow, dull blue, and light gray is characteristic of him. -Vincent van Gogh-

Hammershøi derived considerable inspiration from 17th-century Dutch paintings of interiors, which in his day were seen as prosaic depictions of everyday life and evocations of private happiness. Unlike his artist friends Carl Holsøe and Peter Ilsted, Hammershøi referred to the iconographical tradition of such genre painting without adopting its sentimental, 'homely' qualities. -Felix Krämer-

Time is accordion. The near becomes distant, and what was distant draws nearer and becomes part of the moment consciousness experiences as it moves into the future. The work of art is the offspring of time, but it does not age as time does; it can be forgotten but is always ready to come alive again with the same freshness as at the moment of its birth. -Poul Vad-

Why do I use just a few, muted colours? I've no idea. I can't really say anything on the subject. It seems perfectly natural to me, but I can't say why. It's certainly been the case since the moment I began exhibiting. Perhaps they can best be called neutral and reduced colours. I'm utterly convinced that a painting has the best effect in terms of its colour the fewer colours there are. -Vilhelm Hammershøi-

Hammershøi's interest in figures seen from behind also has a broader reference to the Golden Age. This applies to Bedroom 1890, whose female subject has her back returned to the viewer against an illuminating window, and this has been compared with Biedermeier art and German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich's portray of a figure by a window. But whereas in the Golden Age the motif is often used to express a dialogue with the outside world, Hammershøi instead uses it to convey a sort of existential isolation. -Anne-Birgitte Fonsmark-

They (Hammershøi, Whistler, Klinger, Munch) all have one thing in common: a strong urge to move away from superficial and raw naturalism towards the depths of refined ideals. They do not seek art in externals. They do not wish to copy outward nature. They wish to model our inner universe. -Hermann Bahr-

What makes me choose a motif . . . the lines, what I like to call the architectural content of an image. And then there's the light, of course. Obviously, that's also very important, but I think it's the lines that have the greatest significance for me. Colour is naturally not without importance. I'm really not indifferent to how [the motif's] colours look. I work hard to make it look harmonious. But when I choose a motif I'm thinking first and foremost of the lines. -Vilhelm Hammershøi-

This seeking of style with ties to distant ideals must have challenged Hammershøi and forced him into taking a stance. He was naturally able to see that the pictorial content in works which were the result of this arbitrarily appropriated style was thin and generally meretricious. But an artist is influenced and develops through confrontations with the incomplete, abortive and pretentious. Hammershøi surely lived and worked according to the thought which Ezra Pound formulated in his free translation of The Confucian Analects: 'He said: See solid talent and think of measuring up to it: see un-solid and examine your own inside.' -Poul Vad-

On that occasion I saw Hammershøi's palette. And I shall never forget it. On it there lay four gray and white bobs of color which were scrupulously delimited from each other. The strange thing about them was that there was layer upon layer of color, and that there had been smoothed down into these layers so that there appeared to be four oyster shells lying on the palette. With these colors he created the beautiful pictures which I admire. -Joakim Skovgaard-

Time is needed to attune ourselves to the mood of the Artist. Then by degrees we shall find that we respond not only to the visible outward beauty of his creation, but to a deeper sense - of underlying mystery, of an inner essence - the very pulse and life-beat of the scene or moment - which the Poet awakens, the Artist instinctively, unfailingly communicates. -Leonard Borwick-

You mustn't be afraid, dear Mother-in-law, that Vilhelm's paintings will become infected by the French, for here there is much to learn but not to imitate. -Ida Hammershøi-

In the same class was Vilhelm Hammershøi. He immediately painted his model figures in the same manner and in the same style as his later paintings, both in form and line. Properly speaking he never went through any development. It was his choice of motif which changed. -Jens Ferdinand Willumsen-

In Danish painting, indeed in modern art together, he was something apart and knew it. Hammershøi was modest, but he was never ignorant of his own merit. -Karl Madsen-

I hava a pupil who paints most oddly. I do not understand him, but believe he is going to be important and do not try to influence him. -Peder Severin Krøyer-