A sunlit interior

With its muted colours, sense of poetry and solitude this painting is very similar in style to the work of Ilsted's brother-in-law Vilhelm Hammershøi. Together with Carl Holsøe, these three artists were famous for their depictions of interiors, sometimes including a single figure, and leading members of the "Free Exhibition", a leading Danish progressive art society founded at the end of the 19th century.