Vilhelm Hammershoi: Silence

A beautifully produced exhibition catalogue celebrating the work of Vilhelm Hammershoi featuring rarely exhibited works and essays from leading Hammershoi expert Felix Kraemer and art historian Florian Illies.

Defying categorization, the timeless paintings of nineteenth-century Danish master Vilhelm Hammershoi visually bridge the art of the Old Masters with that of the modern era. His remarkably modernist sensibility continues to capture the imaginations of contemporary audiences around the globe, with major international retrospectives and exhibitions on view over the last twenty years from London to Tokyo. Accompanying the inaugural exhibition of Hauser & Wirth's new Basel gallery--the first ever solo show of Hammershoi's work in Switzerland--'Silence' offers an in-depth understanding of Hammershoi's highly individual artistic language, encapsulated in eighteen works, all from private collections and some rarely exhibited before. Bringing together the interior paintings for which Hammershoi is best known with farmstead paintings, cityscapes, and a rare self-portrait, 'Silence' demonstrates the breadth and depth of the artist's practice. The works' quiet yet radical originality positions the artist as a powerful precursor to the modern masters who were to come. With illuminating essays by Felix Kraemer, the exhibition's curator and a leading expert on Hammershoi, and Florian Illies, art historian and bestselling author of 'Love in a Time of Hate' and '1913: The Year Before the Storm', 'Silence' is an essential resource on the celebrated painter.