HAMMERSHØI, Vilhelm
(b. 1864, København, d. 1916, København)

Sunny Chamber

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Oil on canvas, 50 x 40 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

Like all provincial styles, Biedermeier lasted longest in less-sophisticated centres and was still in evidence in Scandinavia at the end of the nineteenth century in such views as Vilhelm Hammershøi's Sunny Chamber. Here the almost neo-Egyptian monumentality of the furniture is in striking contrast with the light pouring into the chamber, and with the abstract elegance of the paintings on the wall.