Interior with Pink Wallpaper I

1899

Color lithograph on China paper, image 35.3 × 27.4 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago

A corner of the artist's home is covered almost from ceiling to floor in printed pattern. The sheet comes from an album of private rooms and landscapes.

Wallpaper spreads over nearly every surface until the room feels close and crowded. Pattern, more than any figure, sets the mood here.
It is plate five of an album Vollard released in 100 copies.
Look at the doorway at right, where a small figure stands half hidden.
The grayish-ivory sheet is slightly larger than the printed image, leaving a narrow margin.
It came to the Art Institute as a gift of Walter S. Brewster.

Figures in these interiors are absorbed in daily tasks, which makes them seem distant. Collectors ignored the album, and Vollard still had unsold copies two decades on.

Image: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0