Vilhelm Hammershøi: Silence

Hammershøi’s muted, serene interiors inspire a profound sense of stillness and calm

Hauser & Wirth inaugurates its new space in Basel at Luftgässlein 4 with an exhibition dedicated to the soft and subdued interior paintings of celebrated 19th-century Danish symbolist Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916). Silence offers an in-depth understanding of Hammershøi’s highly individual artistic language, encapsulated in 18 works, all from private collections, some rarely exhibited before. Bringing together the interior paintings for which Hammershøi is most celebrated with farmstead paintings, cityscapes and a rare self-portrait, the works featured in Silence demonstrate the breadth and depth of the artist’s practice. Accompanied by illuminating essays by Felix Krämer, the exhibition’s curator and a leading expert on Hammershøi, 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.