The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Strandgade, Sunshine

c. 1906

Vilhelm Hammershøi

(Danish, 1864–1916)
Denmark
oil on canvas
Unframed: 50.5 x 56.2 cm (19 7/8 x 22 1/8 in.)
Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift 2023.38
Location: 222 Impressionism & Post-Impressionism

Did You Know?

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote, "Hammershøi is not one of those artists that one needs to talk about quickly. His work is long and slow and at whatever moment one comes to grips with it, one will have ample occasion to speak of what is significant and essential in art."

Description

One of Denmark’s most celebrated artists, Vilhelm Hammershøi was a painter of quiet spaces, mystery, and silence. Among his most memorable works are paintings of his apartment at 30 Strandgade in Copenhagen, here seen with the sun shining through a window, illuminating the floor and door to the right, while a woman stands in the shadows. The nearly empty room, muted tones, and closed door next to a window evoke a haunting mood filled with psychological complexity.
  • by 1916
    Winkel & Magnussen, Copenhagen, Denmark
    by 1918
    Dr. Axel Heine [1870–1943], Copenhagen, Denmark
    November 5, 1945
    (Sold at Winkel & Magnussen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Heine sale, November 5, 1945, lot 474)
    March 14, 1989
    (Sold at Sotheby’s, London, lot 48, March 14, 1989, to Lance and Roberta Entwistle, London)
    2001
    (Sold by Entwistle Gallery, London, to Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH)
    2020
    Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley, Cleveland, OH, promised gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 According to Fortegnelse over arbejder af Vilhelm Hammershøi (Copenhagen: Trykt Hos. F. E. Bording, 1916), vol. 2, p. 7, cat. no. 64.
    2 According to Sophus Michaëlis and Alfred Bramsen, Vilhelm Hammershøi: Kunstneren og Hans Værk (Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandeln Nordisk, 1918), p. 105, cat. no. 285. 
    3 Provenance from 1918 until 1989 is according to documentation provided by L. & R. Entwistle in the curatorial file.
    4 Sold as ‘Interior, Sunshine’, 49 x 55 cm. Lance and Roberta Entwistle are the directors of the Entwistle Gallery. 
  • Robinson, William H. "Modern European Painting." In The Keithley Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, edited by Heather Lemonedes Brown, 132-139, 142-149. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 136-137; Mentioned: p. 264
    Hammershøi, Vilhelm. Fortegnelse over arbejder af Vilhelm Hammershøi. København: Kunstforeningen, 1916. Mentioned: Vol. 2, p. 7, cat. no. 64
    Michaelis, Sophus, and Alfred Bramsen. Vilhelm Hammershøi : kunstneren og hans værk. København. Denmark: Kristiania : Gyldendalske Boghandeln Nordisk Forlag, 1918. Mentioned: p. 105, no. 285
    Lemonedes Brown, Heather. "Noteworthy and New: Three highlights from the year's acquisitions.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 63, no. 4 (2023): 14-15. Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 15 archive.org
  • Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Strandgade, Sunshine|url=false|author=Vilhelm Hammershøi|year=c. 1906|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2023.38