Frank Hammershøj’s Oil Painting, Number 1

Frank Hammershøj was born in 1940 in Assens, Denmark. He began as a student at Christrups Bookshop in Odense, before dedicating his professional life to painting. By 1960, when Hammershøj was just twenty years old, his work had already been the feature of a solo exhibition. He went on to join the artists’ groups Germinalen and, later on, Kontrast. Hammershøj’s work went on to feature internationally, as demonstrated by the mural he painted in Jurbakas, Lithuania.

Hammershøj’s work is defined by gritty, textured shapes, figures, and forms. His colour palette largely sticks to that seen in this piece, making the most of earthy tones and often placing them in contrast with sharper, blue hues. Whilst some of Hammershøj’s works depict specific places or objects, others – such as this one – are more abstracted. The steely colours run parallel to each other here, suggestive of the demarcations seen when looking at landscapes from afar. In juxtaposing one another, the cooler and warmer tones present a kind of balance and equilibrium.