Dunkebakke, Frederiksværk

Dunkebakke, Frederiksvaerk takes Hammershoi out of the Copenhagen apartment and into the rural landscape of North Sjaelland, near the small industrial town of Frederiksvaerk where iron foundries had operated since the eighteenth century. Dunkebakke was a specific locality in the area, and this 1904 landscape represents one of Hammershoi's occasional excursions into the Danish countryside, bringing his characteristic tonal restraint and stillness to an outdoor subject. Frederiksvaerk lay within easy reach of Copenhagen, and the North Sjaelland landscape — flat, forested, with many lakes — had been a subject for Danish painters since the Golden Age.

Outdoor landscape in Hammershoi's hands tends toward the same tonal restraint as his interiors, resisting picturesque colour. The Danish countryside's subdued palette of grey-green vegetation and overcast sky suited his preference for muted chromatic registers, and he organised the landscape through horizontal recession rather than dramatic incident.