Audio by Annabella Boatwright
Maker: John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925)
Culture: American
Title: My Dining Room
Date Made: c. 1883-1886
Type: Painting
Materials: Oil on canvas
Measurements: 29 x 24 in.
Transcript:
This painting is really special to me, I think, because it’s so understated that you might miss it if you weren’t exactly looking for it. It’s the scene of John Singer Sargent’s dining table with a white tablecloth. And all these things are kind of set out on the table that you can’t really tell what they are because of the way Sargent’s painted them. He has a really sketchy brushstroke going on. And then there’s a chair that kind of fades into the tablecloth and some furniture in the background and things hanging on the wall. This one, it’s kind of mysterious what time of day it is. There’s a really bright light so you know it’s either maybe morning or evening. It feels like morning to me because of how bright it is and the side that it’s coming in. It’s interesting that we don’t really know what’s on the table, I think. It inspires a lot of stories maybe you could think about. If it’s breakfast and he’s set it out and decided to paint it afterwards or maybe it’s left from the night before and he just never cleaned up. And it also adds this personal touch that you know it’s Sargent’s dining room. So you know he’s kind of sitting inside being cozy and comfortable in his own home.