Interior

About the Artwork

Gwen John worked slowly and meticulously, producing fewer than 200 paintings during her lifetime. Like this quiet interior with a table, teapot, and cups, her works were invariably small in size, muted in palette, and restrained in mood. About her life and art, she wrote to a friend, “I may never have anything to express, except this desire for a more interior life.” This is one of a series of four paintings of the same subject; the other versions are in the collections of the National Museum of Wales, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery.

Provenance

sold in 1916 to John Quinn (New York sale 1927). A. Leven, New York. (Davis & Langdale, New York).

Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983). Conserving the Past for the Future. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-May 6, 2001).

Quick Overview

Artist: Gwen John (British, 1876–1939)
Date: 1915
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Unframed: 33 x 24.2 cm (13 x 9 1/2 in.)
Type: Painting
Classification: Painting
Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Accession no.: 1982.6

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.