(He) Hit Me with a Hammer and Burst into Tears
- Artist: Viktor Pivovarov
- Date: 1992
- Medium: Enamel paint on canvas on fibreboard
- Dimensions: frame: 766 x 877 x 44 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “(He) Hit Me with a Hammer and Burst into Tears” by Viktor Pivovarov, painted in 1992 with enamel on canvas mounted on fibreboard. It blends a comic‑book feel with a slice‑of‑life snapshot from a Soviet communal flat. Two women sit across a tea‑filled table: one listens, the other vents about her husband’s violence, her words literally written in Cyrillic in a text box. A bed in the background signals that this is a single‑room apartment, a setting the artist grew up in. The muted, two‑tone palette gives the scene a quiet, resigned mood that clashes with the drama being discussed. This piece is part of Pivovarov’s “Apartment 22” series—35 works that explore everyday Soviet domestic life through a blend of illustration and narrative, reflecting the artist’s roots in Moscow conceptualism.
See it in person
(He) Hit Me with a Hammer and Burst into Tears is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
