The trademark work by Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) titled Interior, Strandgade 30 was knocked down at DKR31.5m (£3.61m) at an auction on November 26. With premium added, the price was DKR39.1m (£4.48m).
The estimate was DKR20m-30m and it sold to an international buyer.
The record for Hammershøi was set at Sotheby's New York in November 2017 when Interior with Woman at Piano, Strandgade 30 sold for $6.21m (£4.74m) including premium. The hammer price was $5.3m (£4.05m).
Bruun Rasmussen's picture is thought to be the second highest auction price worldwide for the artist, outselling another interior scene sold for $5.04m (£3.94m) including premium at Christie’s New York in October 2018, a work that subsequently entered the collection of the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
Bruun Rasmussen has sold around 160 of Hammershøi's works since the 1950s but demand has seemingly never been higher for his sparsely furnished but evocative interiors. Examples can now in other major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the Tate in London, and The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo.
Julie Arendse Voss, head of Bruun Rasmussen's fine art department, said: “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.”
The buyer’s premium was 24%.
£1 = DKR8.72
