Press release -
Record-setting Painting at Bruun Rasmussen
Today, Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art set a new auction record for a painting sold in Denmark as Vilhelm Hammershøi's "Interior, Strandgade 30" achieved a price of USD 6 million / EUR 5,5 million including buyer's premium. This is the highest auction price ever achieved worldwide for a painting by the artist.
"It simply doesn’t get more quintessential Vilhelm Hammeshøj than with “Interior, Strandgade 30”, and this is reflected in the price," says a proud expert on Hammershøi and Head of Bruun Rasmussen's Department of Fine Art, Julie Arendse Voss.
Bruun Rasmussen has sold about 160 of Vilhelm Hammershøi's works since the 1950s. Therefore, we are the auction house in the world with the greatest knowledge of his artwork.
”Vilhelm Hammershøi is without peer when it comes to creating enigmatic and atmospheric spaces, and it is while living at Strandgade in Copenhagen that he truly made a name for himself as a painter of interiors. These interiors, where the light is reflected on the floor in shades of white, grey and brown, are where Hammershøi creates a space with a unique timeless metaphysical atmosphere – the special "Hammershøi" atmosphere we know him for. This atmosphere has made him the most sought-after Danish artist of all time on the international art market,” says Julie Arendse Voss.
Today, Wilhelm Hammershøi is represented in museums all over the world and can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, Tate in London, The Getty in LA and The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. "Interior, Strandgade 30" was sold to an international buyer.
"Interior, Strandgade 30" was by far the auction's most exclusive painting, but Bruun Rasmussen also sold three other works by Vilhelm Hammershøi this evening:
- “Female nude. Standing” from 1886, which achieved a hammer price of DKK 4,3 million (Estimate: DKK 1.5-2 million)
- An Academy study after plaster cast of Antinous, which achieved a price of DKK 650,000 (hammer price of DKK 100,000-150,000)
- A portrait of Vilhelm Hammershøi's brother, Svend Hammershøi, from 1892, which achieved a hammer price of DKK 900,000 (Estimate: DKK 600,000-800,000)
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Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is one of Scandinavia’s leading international auction houses, and one of Denmark’s oldest. It all started on 6 October 1948, when Arne Bruun Rasmussen conducted the first traditional auction in the saleroom at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. Today, Jesper Bruun Rasmussen stands at the helm of the family-run business together with the third generation of the family, his son Frederik and daughter Alexa, and the company’s CEO Jakob Dupont.
In 2004, the first online auction was launched, and today the auction house has expanded to include departments in Copenhagen and Aarhus and representations in Sweden, Germany, England, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Thailand and the US. About 100,000 lots are put up for auction each year at the traditional auctions, the daily online auctions and - the latest edition - direct auctions. Here you can bid on everything from art, antiques, modern design and jewellery to books, coins, stamps, wine and weaponry.
