ABC Wednesday

H is the letter for this sunny week

H is for Vilhelm Hammershoi.

Of an exhibition of this celebrated Danish painter's work

entitled, " The Poetry of Silence"

it is said

"Hammershoi\s most compelling works are his quiet, haunting interiors, their emptiness disturbed only occasionally by the presence of a solitary, graceful figure, often the artist's wife.

Painted within a small tonal range of implied greys, these sparsely-furnished rooms exude an almost hypnotic quietude and sense of melancholic introspection.

In addition to the interiors, the exhibition also includes Hammershoi's arresting portraits, landscapes and his evocative city views, notably the deserted streets of London on a misty winter morning.  The magical quietness of Hammershoi's work can be seen in the context of international Symbolist movements of the turn of the last century but the containment and originality of his art makes it unique."

Besides the quiet greys and blues Hammershoi occasionally used subdued yellows in his paintings.

Follow the open doors into the heart of Hammershoi's magical paintings, and click here for more wonderful interpretations of the letter H, with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and her helpers.