Sunshine in the drawing room III, 1903, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, photo Erik Cornelius

If you have time for only one exhibition this week, just rush to Musée Jacquemart André to see “Hammershøi, Master of Danish painting”, a complete discovery for many art lovers. Born in Copenhagen, in 1864, Vilhelm Hammershøi died young of a throat cancer in 1916. And disappeared from the art world until he was rediscovered (in France) in the 1990’s when le Petit Palais and  Musée d’Orsay each had a retrospective of his work. He is considered by some art historians as the Vermeer of the 20 th century.

Landscape in Lejre, 1905, Stockholm, Nationalmuseum

Enigmatic, mysterious, intimate, these paintings provoke fascination and curiosity. What kind of a man was this perfectionist of color, who always painted his wife  from the back, in an abstract position? His first works were dedicated to his mother and his admiration for Whistler shows in the painting which he inspired, “Interior with the artist’s mother” in 1889. Later his wife Ida  (the sister of his great friend the painter Peter Ilsted), will become his main model.

Portrait of the artist’s mother, 1886, private collection

The exhibition of forty paintings includes some by his friends Carl Holsøe and Peter Listed, and their size fits perfectly  with the small rooms of this formerly private house. For the first time eleven paintings were lent by Ambassador John Loeb who was posted in Denmark during President Reagan’s presidency. He was wise enough to collect Hammershøi and his contemporaries. It is thanks to his generosity that curator Jean-Loup Champion was able to produce this marvelous show.

Curator Jean Loup Champion in front of “the Jewish school in Gilford Street (London)

There is an overwhelming simplicity and silence in these paintings. The artist was not expansive and since he painted at home, he made sure to empty the rooms where they lived, in order to give an abstract feeling to the interiors. His frugality reminded me of another great Danish artist, architect Jørn Utzon, whose interiors are often monacal. Hammershøi uses few colors and paints neutral backgrounds. There is no decorative effect.

Interior with a young man reading, Svend Hammershøi) 1898, Copenhagen, Den Hirschsprungske Samling

His ladies are always dressed in black and white or occasionally in beige and his masterpiece “Five portraits” painted in 1902 appeared as shocking because nothing happens between the five friends sitting at the table. The only sign of life are two lit candles. The strangeness of his style could be quite depressing if it was not so strong! When you compare his interiors to his friends’ there is an emptiness and a lack of decor that give them their force.

Three young ladies, 1895, Ribe Kunstmuseum Denmark, photo Ribe Kunstmuseum

His landscapes leave me more indifferent and I particularly disliked his nudes except for one “Three studies of feminine nudes” 1909-1910 which reminded me of Picasso.

Musée Jacquemart-André, until July 22.