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Topics

Furniture and interiors

  • Summary
Blue Ante Room
Image credit: Southampton City Art Gallery

Blue Ante Room

William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881–1941)

Southampton City Art Gallery

Some of the most important subjects depicted in painting take place in interiors. The contrast between a domestic setting and a great event can be a powerful one. Biblical and mythological stories can take place in invented interiors, symbolic ones intended to convey a message, or contemporary settings meant to underline the relevance of the story.


‘Genre’ paintings and portraits provide a wealth of information about the way of life of previous generations.

Read more
They are valuable evidence of room layouts, the furniture and decorative arts of the past and how they were used. Of course such interiors can also be decorative subjects in their own right, can carry their own hidden messages and can be rearranged to suit the artist.

Artworks

  • Study for Self Portrait
    Study for Self Portrait Francis Bacon (1909–1992)
    National Museum Cardiff
  • Mrs Andrews
    Mrs Andrews British School
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • The Torn Gown
    The Torn Gown Henry Tonks (1862–1937)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • Leicester and Amy Robsart at Cumnor Hall
    Leicester and Amy Robsart at Cumnor Hall Edward Matthew Ward (1816–1879)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • In Church
    In Church James Tissot (1836–1902)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • Mrs Green
    Mrs Green Richard Ernst Eurich (1903–1992)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • The Australian
    The Australian Stephen Conroy (b.1964)
    Southampton City Art Gallery
  • 2,572 more

Stories

  • Jug from Ben Nicholson's studio
    The still life of a jug: inside the studio of Ben Nicholson

    Louise Weller

  • Jim and Helen Ede in Tangier, 1937
    Jim and Helen Ede: friends of artists and founders of Kettle's Yard

    Naomi Polonsky

  • Clare 'Tony' Atwood: the modest musketeer

    Kay Carson

  • This Dark Country: Women Artists, Still Life and Intimacy in the Early Twentieth Century
    The women artists who radically reclaimed still life

    Rebecca Birrell

  • Pink! A very Rococo colour

    Tegan Huskinson

  • Let's have a picnic! The Rococo way to enjoy summer

    Tegan Huskinson

  • The pane of separation: windows as a symbol of loneliness in British art

    Olivia Moinuddin

  • Thelma Hulbert: the Euston Road School and her circle of pioneering women

    Alicia Foster

  • Permindar Kaur in her studio
    Staying with the ambivalence: an interview with Permindar Kaur

    Alina Khakoo

  • Elevating the everyday: genre painting through the ages

    Imelda Barnard

Learning resources

  • NGS_NGS_GMA_5623-001.jpg
    Lesson plan
    'Lobster Telephone' and Surrealism
    • KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
  • ybgallery-1.png
    Video
    The Superpower of Looking with YolanDa Brown
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      KS1 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L1 (SCO)
      PS2 (WAL)
  • TATE_TATE_T03255_10-002.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The Superpower of Looking: David Hockney paints his parents
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • spol-rsa-gillies-interior-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The Superpower of Looking: William Gillies paints his family at home
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • tate-tate-t03255-10-002-1-1.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'My Parents' by David Hockney
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      SEND (ENG)
      SEND (NI)
      ASN (SCO)
      SEND (WAL)
  • ng-ng-ng1314-001-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    The Superpower of Looking: Holbein paints two visitors to the Tudor court
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
  • jv-ambassadors-3-1.png
    Video
    The Superpower of Looking with Jessica Voorsanger
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      KS3 (WAL)
  • lw-wmos-t13-002-1.jpg
    Lesson plan
    Pattern and identity: William Morris's 'Strawberry Thief'
    • KS3 (ENG)
      KS3 (NI)
      CfE L3 (SCO)
      CfE L4 (SCO)
      KS4 (ENG)
  • ng-ng-ng1314-001-1.jpg
    Audio
    Audio description of 'The Ambassadors' by Hans Holbein the Younger
    • KS2 (ENG)
      KS2 (NI)
      CfE L2 (SCO)
      PS3 (WAL)
      SEND (ENG)
      SEND (NI)
      ASN (SCO)
      SEND (WAL)

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® is a registered trade mark of the Public Catalogue Foundation.
Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and Scotland (SC048601).