When I was in London during the summer I went to a brilliant exhibition - "Vilhelm Hammershoi 'The Poetry of Silence'" - at the Royal Academy of Arts. A friend of mine had sent me a post card of one of his painting a few years ago and the image had stayed in my heart. As soon as I arrived in London this summer I saw one of the posters for the exhibition and immediately recognized the painter from that post card although it was a different painting. The friend who had sent that post card kindly invited me to the exhibition and it was absolutely beautiful!

The title of the exhibition "The Poetry of Silence" says it all. Many of the paintings are of his wife in their apartment,although she is almost always only showing her back.The colours are very subdued and the light is always very soft - I guess typical European winter light. But this undercurrent of quiet but deep love between them is always felt,leaving one not feeling loneliness but melancholic. It reminded me of a poem that was quoted in a film which I am still trying to find who wrote it.

"Love dances lost between laughter and tears
With the whirl of Joy
and the embrace of Melancholy"