15th -20th centuries · Architecture, privacy and daily life

From the monumental church to the familiar room, the painted interior becomes in turn a space of perspective, a social scene, an intimate refuge and a psychological theater.

The interior appears in European painting as a space constructed as well as inhabited. During the Renaissance, the bedroom, workshop or church made it possible to order perspective, distribute light and inscribe figures in a specific material world. In the Netherlands, Pieter Neefs and architectural painters multiply naves, columns and chapels: the gaze passes through a monumental geometry where offices and visitors give scale. In the 17th century, Vermeer, de Hooch and their contemporaries transformed the house into a place of attention, work and silence. In the 17th century, Vermeer, de Hooch and their contemporaries transformed the house into a place of attention, work and silence. In the 17th century, Vermeer, de Hooch and their contemporaries transformed the house into a place of attention, work and silence. In the 17th century, Vermeer, de Hooch and their contemporaries transformed the house into a place of attention, work and silence. In the 17th century, Vermeer, de Hooch and their contemporaries transformed the house into a place of attention, work and silence. In the 17 and social relationships. With Degas, Cassatt, Vuillard, Bonnard, Matisse or Vallotton, the framing becomes freer, the decorative motifs reach the surface and the interior space reveals a psychology. Window, door and mirror then connect what is visible and what remains off-camera. This long history then makes the painted room a true portrait of its occupants, even when it appears empty. The "Interior in painting" selection notably compares the interior of a church or the Offering - Pieter Neefs the Elder and the interior of a Flemish church - Pieter Neefs the Elder. His reading favors figures.

A painted interior is never a simple decor: its doors, its light and its objects tell the story of how an era inhabits the world.