Culture
Hammershøi and the painters of silence
Palazzo Roverella, Rovigo
Taking place at Palazzo Roverella in Rovigo from 21 February to 29 June 2025, “Hammershøi and the painters of silence in northern Europe and Italy” promises to be an exhibition of great historical, artistic and cultural significance. It is the first ever Italian exhibition on the great Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi (Copenhagen, 1864-1916), an influential point of reference on the European figurative arts scene between the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century.
Organised with the support of Intesa Sanpaolo, this exceptional event is promoted by Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo in collaboration with the Municipality of Rovigo and Accademia dei Concordi.
Exhibition at Palazzo Roverella – Rovigo
The Palazzo Roverella Museum space offers visitors the chance to discover one of the most sought-after and acclaimed artists among galleries all over the world today. Paris, New York, London, Munich, Toronto, Barcelona and Krakow have all held exhibitions and retrospectives on Vilhelm Hammershøi. In addition to investigating the close link between the artist and Italy - which he visited several times, taking inspiration from the "Primitives" Giotto, Beato Angelico, Masolino, Masaccio, Luca Signorelli and Desiderio da Settignano - the exhibition curated by Paolo Bolpagni also draws interesting parallels with other great painters of the same era.
Vilhelm Hammershøi and the painters of silence
The Italians Umberto Prencipe, Giuseppe Ar, Oscar Ghiglia, Vittore Grubicy de Dragon, Mario de Maria, Giulio Aristide Sartorio, Vittorio Grassi, Orazio Amato, Umberto Moggioli, Domenico Baccarini, Giuseppe Ugonia, Francesco Vitalini and Mario Reviglione, the French Émile-René Ménard, Henri Duhem, Lucien Lévy-Dhurmer, Charles Marie Dulac, Henri Le Sidaner, Charles Lacoste and Alphonse Osbert, the Belgians Fernand Khnopff, Georges Le Brun and William Degouve de Nuncques, the Dutch Jozef Israëls and Bernard Blommers, the Swedish Tyra Kleen and the Danish painters Peter Vilhelm Ilsted, Carl Holsøe and Svend Hammershøi.
All these artists were prominent figures in the famous “painters of silence” movement, characterised by powerful depictions of semi-deserted and desolate spaces and, above all, by images inspired by moments of deep introspective solitude. Beginning with the evocative grandeur of the works of Hammershøi whose women are almost always portrayed from behind, creating a claustrophobic tension within apparently ordinary and aseptic environments which are nonetheless able to keep the viewer on edge, as if something disturbing could happen at any moment.
It is no coincidence that his unmistakable style, which strongly inspired famous film director and fellow Dane Carl Theodor Dreyer, was known as "neurasthenic".
Gallerie d'Italia and Palazzo Roverella
All visitors will be able to take advantage of the reciprocal discounts between Palazzo Roverella and the Intesa Sanpaolo museums - the Gallerie d'Italia - in Milan, Naples, Turin and Vicenza: all visitors who exhibit a ticket for the Hammershøi exhibition at the ticket office of one of the Gallerie d'Italia will receive a reduction as indicated at www.gallerieditalia.com; likewise, those who exhibit an ticket to one of the Gallerie d'Italia exhibition venues from this year will be able to enter the exhibition at Palazzo Roverella for a reduced fee. This reciprocal discount agreement runs to 29 June 2025.
Last updated 10 March 2025
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