Moonlight, Strandgade 30 1900 - 1906

Vilhelm Hammershøi, a Danish painter working at the turn of the 20th century, created this painting of an interior at Strandgade 30, an address in Copenhagen where he lived with his wife. The painting is characterized by its muted palette and austere composition, featuring a window and a door. Hammershøi’s work is often read in relation to the rise of the modern individual, and what that does to traditional notions of community and family. There is an undeniable sense of melancholy here; the muted tones and the bareness of the room speak to something lost. Hammershøi's interest in interior spaces, combined with his ability to evoke a sense of quiet contemplation, makes this work a potent reflection on the human condition, and particularly on the interior lives of women in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hammershøi is not depicting a specific narrative, but more so an emotion.