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.
Hammershoi's art is about being present in the world as it is, accepting its beauty, and living in the moment. He is the antidote to the hysterical self-pity of his Norwegian contemporary Edvard Munch. In his infinitely simple pictures, Hammershoi refuses to manipulate our response to the reality he shows us. Beside him, most other artists look vulgar.
Though he is considered Denmark's greatest painter, Hammershoi's work is hardly known in this country. That is why the exhibition of 60 or so of his paintings in the Royal Academy's Sackler Galleries is one of the highlights of the summer.