From Refsnæs by Danish Artist Vilhelm Hammershøi

Market leaders in 19th Century European Paintings, Sotheby’s next London sale will take place on 14 December. Defined by important works by artists working across Europe from Scandinavia to Spain, and from Poland to Paris, the sale showcases the diversity of art painted during the period.

Painted in 1900 and pared down almost to abstraction, From Refsnæs bears witness to Hammershøi's on-going - and lesser known - fascination for landscape painting. By now installed at Strandgade 30, the Copenhagen apartment that was the subject of his most famous interiors, Hammershøi nevertheless took time to engage with the great outdoors. The subject of the present work is the peninsula of Refsnæs (or Røsnæs), part of the remote north western promontory of Zealand which was within easy reach of the capital. The strata of sky, dune, and prairie border on the abstract, putting Hammershøi ahead of his time. As in his interiors, Hammershøi creates a hermetically sealed world, denying the viewer almost every frame of reference to the wider world beyond a tantalising glimpse of the sea on the far left. 

The present work relates to a version of the same subject in the Thielska Galleriet, Stockholm, measuring 58 by 71cm.