Walter Richard Sickert

Ennui

c.1914

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In Tate Modern

In the Studio: Studio Practice

Free entry

Artist: Walter Richard Sickert 1860–1942
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 1524 x 1124 mm
frame: 1741 x 1340 x 110 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1924
Reference: N03846

Display caption

The title means ‘boredom’ in French. Sickert suggests the dislocated relationship between the figures by their lack of communication and their surroundings. Despite their close physical proximity, the man and woman face in opposite directions, staring off into space. The room furnishings reinforce the theme, in particular the bell jar containing stuffed birds. This is a marriage suffocating with boredom. Sickert’s works provide neither moral nor narrative certainty; which he leaves the viewer to supply.

Gallery label, May 2007

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