In Spring 2026, Phillips will present The Collection of Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr., an offering of nearly 150 works widely regarded as one of the most significant private collections of Danish art to come to market in recent decades. Anchored by a focused group of paintings by Vilhelm Hammershøi, alongside works by Bertha Wegmann, P. S. Krøyer, and Anna Ancher, the sales are expected to exceed $12 million.

Following a January unveiling at Copenhagen’s Erichsen Mansion, the collection begins an international tour through Gstaad, St. Moritz, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Los Angeles, before concluding with pre-sale exhibitions in London (27 February–4 March) and New York ahead of the Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in May. At the centre of the offering are paintings Hammershøi’s, works that have come to define the restrained, architectural minimalism of early 20th-century Copenhagen.

Several of the works were previously presented in the selling exhibition Stillness: Hammershøi and American Minimalism, held at Phillips New York from April to May 2024. The works were framed in dialogue with postwar American Minimalism, underscoring their disciplined restraint and structural clarity. Across eras, both Hammershøi and the Minimalists pursued reduction not as absence, but as conviction.

Leading the group is Courtyard Interior at Strandgade 30 (est. $3–5 million), a rare courtyard composition in which a solitary female figure leans from a window. The painting embodies the structural clarity and psychological stillness that underpin Hammershøi’s most sought-after interiors. His most frequent subjects were the interiors of his own apartments, which he returned to repeatedly, exploring subtle variations of light, perspective, and atmosphere.

Also featured is Interior with Windsor Chair at Strandgade 25, 1913 (est. $2.5–3.5 million), a distilled example of the artist’s late style. Its spare tonal palette and calibrated composition place it within the category that has historically driven the top end of the market.

By contrast, Study of Standing Woman, Seen from Behind (est. $600,000–900,000) presents a more intimate, figure-led composition, a recurring motif, though one that has not achieved the same commercial strength as the canonical interiors.

The benchmark is clear: in May 2023, Interior. The Music Room, Strandgade 30, 1907 achieved $9.1 million at Sotheby’s New York, more than doubling its $3–5 million estimate, acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago. Similarly, Stue (Interior with an Oval Mirror) achieved $6.3 million in 2022 at Christie’s against a $1.5–2.5 million estimate. For Hammershøi, quality and price remain inextricably tied to Strandgade.

Yet bidding beyond this top tier has shown restraint. In June 2025, at Sotheby’s, Sunshine in the Drawing Room II realised $3.7 million, falling below its low estimate of $4m. The following month, Interior, setting the table (est. $3–4 million) failed to sell at Sotheby’s. Christie’s also did not secure a buyer for Selv-portræt (Self-portrait) (est. $300,000–400,000). The latter result is particularly telling: portraiture, despite its art-historical appeal, does not command the competitive bidding reserved for the interiors.

Taken together, these results suggest a market that remains fundamentally strong but more exacting in where it places value. The highest prices continue to cluster around museum-calibre Strandgade interiors, while secondary compositions and non-interior subjects encounter more measured bidding.

Institutional attention continues to shape this trajectory. The Museo Nacional Thyssen Bornemisza will open Spain’s first Hammershøi retrospective in February 2026, presenting around one hundred works in a comprehensive survey. Museum interest has long been central to building awareness. The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquired Moonlight, Strandgade 30 in 2012, and several major institutions have since followed, among them the Getty, which added a key interior in 2016. In 2019, the Musée Jacquemart André further advanced this momentum with its dedicated exhibition Hammershøi: The Master of Danish Painting. Works by Hammershøi can be found in major museum collections including the National Gallery, London; the
Städel Museum, Frankfurt; the National Gallery, Oslo; National museum, Stockholm; and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

The forthcoming Loeb works now enter this calibrated landscape. Whether they reaffirm the premium attached to Strandgade or reflect the discipline evident in more recent sales will offer the clearest indication yet of where the Hammershøi market stands in 2026.