Vilhelm Hammershoi's Strandgade 30 has sold for £2m ($3.1m) at Sotheby's London, setting a new record for a Danish work of art at auction.

The May 21 sale beat the previous record, set at £1.7m ($2.6m) in 2012 for another Hammershoi work, by 17.6%.

Hammershoi is Denmark's most valuable artist

Hammershoi is known for his subtle and unsettling interiors, which often show solitary figures facing away from the viewer.

Nina Wedell-Wedellsborg, head of Sotheby's Denmark, explained: "Hammershoi is an artist whom Danish people hold close to their hearts.

"But with his ascent to international status through recent high-profile exhibitions, record-breaking prices at auction, and his unique aesthetic that finds resonance among collectors of both Old Masters and Modern and Contemporary art, he has been embraced around the world, in academic circles, among art collectors, and also by the wider public."

These sentiments were echoed by Sotheby's Claude Piening, who said: "Bidding was international, with interest from Scandinavia, North America and South America.

"Hammershoi appeals to the tastes of the 21st-century collector. His vision both harks back to the interiors of Johannes Vermeer, and anticipates the qualities that define the work of twentieth-century painters including Edward Hopper, Andrew Wyeth, and Gerhard Richter.

"It is perhaps this universality that so appeals to the collecting community."

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