Overview
Between 1898 and his death in 1916, the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi painted more than two dozen pictures of his wife, Ida, seen only from the back.
This is her story, told from the front.
Copenhagen, 1898. Vilhelm Hammershøi is on the cusp of greatness. Nobody knows this better than his wife, Ida, who devotes her days to facilitating her husband’s genius.
When the great American painter James McNeill Whistler—Vilhelm’s idol—begins planning an exhibition in London, Vilhelm and Ida relocate to England in the hope of winning his attention. But they soon discover that talent alone is not enough in the fickle, slippery art world, and that on the ladder of ambition it is possible to lose sight of themselves, and each other. When a devastating betrayal threatens to drive them apart forever, Vilhelm and Ida reckon with what it means to really see another person, and to be seen in turn.
Portrait is a spare, exquisite story of art, ambition, and betrayal. In searing yet vividly rich prose, Francesca Whitlum-Cooper interrogates power and creativity and the secrets we keep from those we love, and from ourselves.
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