Vilhelm Hammershøi (1984–1916)
Double Portrait of the Artist and his Wife, 1892
Oil on canvas

In September 1891, Vilhelm Hammershøi married Ida Ilsted (1869–1949), sister of the painter Peter Ilsted, whom Hammershøi knew from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. After the wedding, the newlyweds set out for Paris via the Netherlands and Belgium. They spent six months in the French capital, where Hammershøi conducted extensive studies at the Louvre. In January 1892 he began this double portrait, on which he worked intensely until a few days before the couple travelled back to Denmark in March of that year.

The painting is one of very few double portraits that Hammershøi created of himself and his wife. In this work, they are both depicted from the front in a bust-like format, shown side by side – shoulder to shoulder – in the rectangular pictorial space. Neither is accentuated over the other, and no distinctive traits attract any special attention to either of them. And yet. There is a difference in the effects of shadow and light employed on their faces: Vilhelm Hammershøi’s face is divided into two – one part is in shadow, the other in light – whereas Ida Hammershøi’s face is evenly illuminated, devoid of shadow. The effect conveys a feeling that the double portrait is a construction and that the couple do not occupy the same space.

With the neutral ochre-coloured background, the even lighting and the everyday clothes, the double portrait seems undramatic. At the same time, there is something enigmatic about the newlyweds’ empty stares. Vilhelm Hammershøi does not convey any of the emotional intimacy and closeness expected between a newlywed couple. Rather, they seem more closely connected with their own inner world than with each other.

Hammershøi created a total of five paintings during the time in Paris and in all of them we see him working with frontal views, subjects running parallel to the picture plane and an absence of psychological empathy. Some critics have pointed out that these traits clearly underscore the great inspiration he found in the Collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman Art at the Louvre.¹ Others assert that photography has also had a certain impact on the artistic imagery and results from Paris, as Ida and Vilhelm Hammershøi brought along a camera and used it frequently.²

Lent to the exhibition
Hammershøi. The Eye that Listens
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain
17 February - 31 May 2026

Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
3 July - 25 October 2026