Interior
- Artist: Alberto Giacometti
- Date: 1949
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: frame: 710 x 599 x 78 mm
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Interior" by Alberto Giacometti, painted in 1949. The oil on canvas gives a quiet, almost monochromatic window into the artist’s own workspace on Rue Hippolyte‑Maindron in Paris’s 14th arrondissement. You can see the narrow work‑table, a few stools, and the scattered sculptures—Giants of the artist’s own imagination—leaning on the floor or perched on the surface. Giacometti’s studio feels both lived‑in and controlled; the light slants through the single window, casting long shadows that add depth to the scene.
The work is an early example of Giacometti’s exploration of space and form. By rendering a mundane interior so starkly, he invites us to consider the relationship between the creator, his creations, and the room that shelters them. It’s a snapshot of the creative process frozen in 1949, a quiet yet powerful reminder of where ideas take shape.
See it in person
Interior 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.
