What these Enigmatic Artworks Teach Me About Solitude
The power of Vilhelm Hammershøi’s paintings
Some artists paint in order to add spectacle and drama to the world; others use their art to add silence.
Vilhelm Hammershøi was one of the latter.
Hammershøi invested so much meaning in the quietude of an empty room. His paintings consist of half-fogged interiors that draw our attention to the benefits of simply being: so that we might notice more, and at the same time find our own internal noise calmed.
His paintings are the opposite of the modern-day selfie photograph. Instead of saying “Look at me and what I’m doing”, these paintings are a refutation to the part of human nature that seeks attention for itself. Instead, their claims are in support of introspection, along with a plea for modesty in the act.
Why we should wish to linger over the sight of an empty couch or a moonlit window his paintings answer by insisting — implicitly — that some of the most meaningful encounters we might have occur in our most private moments.
As Hammershøi said, “I have always thought there was such beauty about a room even though there weren’t any people in it, perhaps precisely when there weren’t any.”
