I’ve mentioned before that my favourite thing about the creative process is the way unexpected connections are made. I experienced this very phenomenon yesterday during my afternoon painting class at the Toronto School of Art.
I was working next to the window, preparing the boards I planned to paint, when I sensed a shift in the early spring light. Sure enough, the next thing I knew, my table was illuminated.
This beautiful light came and went a few times, and so did I. On my way back from filling my water jars, I met it at just the right moment, and was transported in time to the work of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864 – 1916).
The predominant themes of his art – loneliness, isolation, and alienation…and a sense of contemplation and quiet serenity – continue to appeal to a very large contemporary audience.
Profile of Vilhelm Hammershøi on the SMK website
I had the privilege of seeing Painting Tranquility: Masterworks by Vilhelm Hammershøi when it was on at the Art Gallery of Ontario a few years ago, and I remember being captivated by his expression of light, and by the aching yet reassuring sense of silence and timelessness in his work.
I can only describe it as poetry.
Catalogue 
