Some critics have tried to read the interiors as places of melancholy and claustrophobic confinement – stage sets for some Danish production of Hedda Gabler. It doesn’t work. Light suffuses the figures with a soft radiance, integrating them with the space and furniture to create a deep sense of peace and contentment. Each picture represents a moment of clarity and calm, when the mind is still and the soul at peace with itself.

— Vilhelm Hammershoi: empty rooms, full of wonder by Richard Dorment