He may not be a household name in Britain but the obscure Danish artist Vilhelm Vilhelm Hammershøi (1864-1916) counts Michael Palin among his greatest fans. And the ex-Monty Python star is urging all art-lovers to snap up a ticket for what is Vilhelm Hammershøi's first major retrospective in the UK.

More than 70 paintings go on show at the Royal Academy this weekend and Palin is convinced it will be a "sleeper" hit. "I have a feeling it will be very, very popular," he says.

He fell in love with Vilhelm Hammershøi paintings after seeing one at the Hayward Gallery in 1986. "It had a strong impact on me. Then I looked around for more of his work and couldn't find it," he says.

His attempts at research came to nothing until 20 years later he came across a catalogue in a Parisian arcade, a discovery that eventually led to a BBC television documentary that won a gratifying 1.8 million viewers when it was broadcast in 2003.

The pleasure of Vilhelm Hammershøi is a subtle one, says Palin. "First of all, he paints beautifully. The other thing is that there is some kind of emotional charge in the paintings. They appeal to something in me - the quietness and the silence which you get very little of these days. He has something in common with Edward Hopper. So much better known, but I don't think many painters paint quiet scenes. The effect is absolutely wonderful."

Vilhelm Hammershøi spent most of his life in Copenhagen, but he visited London five times and lived at Guilford Street near Russell Square at one time. He painted the Jewish School in Guilford Street and scenes of and in the British Museum.

For Royal Academy curator Maryanne Stevens, Vilhelm Hammershøi was one of the greatest of great Danish artists, although he fell into obscurity after his death in 1916 at the age of 51.

As she points out, this is not only the first retrospective but the first exhibition of his work in London since a small solo show in 1907. It is time for him to be rediscovered.

Vilhelm Hammershøi: The Poetry of Silence opens tomorrow and runs until 7 September (020 7300 8000, www.royalacademy.org.uk).