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Slender Trees on a Hill

1896 or later
Not on view
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Slender Trees on a Hill
  • Artist: Vilhelm Hammershøi (Danish, Copenhagen 1864–1916 Copenhagen)
  • Date: 1896 or later
  • Medium: Graphite, incised for transfer; verso: made black with graphite, chalk or charcoal
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 13 3/8 × 19 5/16 in. (34 × 49 cm), a vertical strip of ca. 1 3/4 in. (4.5 cm) folded over at left
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust Gift and Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.682
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Figure Reading at a Table in an Interior at Night, Vilhelm Hammershøi Danish, Fabricated black and red chalk
Figure Reading at a Table in an Interior at Night
Vilhelm Hammershøi
ca. 1891
Moonlight, Strandgade 30, Vilhelm Hammershøi Danish, Oil on canvas
Moonlight, Strandgade 30
Vilhelm Hammershøi
1900–1906
Self-Portrait at Spurveskjul, Vilhelm Hammershøi Danish, Oil on canvas
Self-Portrait at Spurveskjul
Vilhelm Hammershøi
1911
Fishing Boat at Sea, Anton Melbye Danish, Charcoal, black chalk, and red chalk
Fishing Boat at Sea
Anton Melbye
1866
The English Fleet Anchored at the Town of Beykoz, North of Istanbul, Anton Melbye Danish, Graphite and charcoal
The English Fleet Anchored at the Town of Beykoz, North of Istanbul
Anton Melbye
1853

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