There I Belong. Hammershøi by Elmgreen & Dragset at SMK, Copenhagen

Masterpieces by the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi presented (27 April–1 September 2019) in unconventional company, juxtaposed with international contemporary art. Also included are works by Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Francesca Woodman.

A safe and friendly place? Or an eerie setting capable of driving you mad? In this new art project, artists Elmgreen & Dragset challenge our habitual ideas about ‘home’.

Enjoy masterpieces by the Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi presented in unconventional company, juxtaposed with international contemporary art.

Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset have a long-held fascination with the work of Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864–1916). Famous for his iconic scenes of semi-empty rooms, Hammershøi is often described as an artist who is preoccupied with the familiar, the intimate and the homelike. However, Elmgreen & Dragset see something uncanny and disturbing in Hammerhøi’s paintings:

'There is little liveliness in Hammershøi’s paintings. There is a silence here which is certainly poetically poignant and wistful, yet also ominous. It feels as if residents are not quite welcome in these subtle interiors, where everything seems to be in its proper place, but where life itself seems to have come to a halt.'

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Photo: © Anders Sune Berg