Slender Trees on a Hill

Vilhelm Hammershøi

1896 or later · Graphite, incised for transfer; verso: made black with graphite, chalk or charcoal · Drawings and Prints

The subject of this large sheet was found in Dyrehaven (Royal Deer Park), just a few miles north of Copenhagen. Hammershøi captures sunlight enveloping a patch of trees and outlines their nearly bare branches. Bits of the white paper ground suggest the penetration of brilliant light through, and the airy consistency of, the crowns of the trees. With bold use of graphite, the artist scratched out dark trunks and branches. Here the unpopulated forest pulsates with energy, in a hallucinatory depiction of nature.

Artist

Vilhelm Hammershøi

Date

1896 or later

Medium

Graphite, incised for transfer; verso: made black with graphite, chalk or charcoal

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust Gift and Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2016