The Cleveland Museum of Art

• Provenance
  Before 1940-before 1952

  Paul Eluard [1895-1952], Paris

  by 1952

  Bernard Poissonnier, Paris

  Until 1981

  (E. V. Thaw, New York, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

  1984-

  The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

  Provenance Footnotes

  1 In a handwritten statement that was supplied with the painting upon its sale by E.V Thaw to CMA, Bernard Poissonnier said that he acquired the painting from Paul Eluard.  Eluard’s daughter, Cécile, confirmed that her father owned the painting “avant la guerre,” meaning prior to May 1940. While Eluard was likely the painting’s first owner, with neither a firm attribution nor date of execution, Eluard’s years of ownership are difficult to establish.  It was previously thought that Eluard exhibited the painting at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in 1937.  However, there is no evidence that this exhibition ever took place.  The error may derive from confusion with a different exhibition at the Jeu de Paume, Origines et Développement de l’art international indépendant, which included a de Chirico painting titled Intérieur métaphysique from the Eluard collection.  The catalogue is not illustrated, but installation photographs indicate it was not the Cleveland painting that was exhibited, and that the catalogue must therefore refer to a different work of the same title.  Eluard’s ownership of this work also points to its authorship by, if not de Chirico himself, then someone in his circle, possibly Óscar Domínguez or Max Ernst.  Cécile Eluard recalled that Ernst enjoyed executing works in the manner of de Chirico, and it was Ernst who painted the earliest known de Chirico forgery.

  2 In 1952, the Cleveland picture was exhibited as part of Poissonnier’s collection in the Basel Kunsthalle exhibition, Phantastiche Kunst des XX Jahrhunderts.
• Citations
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  Robinson, William H. “De Chirco Forgeries: The Treachery of the Surrealists.” IFAR Journal 4, no. 1 (2001): 10-17.

  E.V. Thaw & Co., invoice to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Nov. 30, 1981, in CMA curatorial file.

  Phantastiche Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts. Basel, 1952.

  Robinson, William H. “De Chirco Forgeries: The Treachery of the Surrealists.” IFAR Journal 4, no. 1 (2001): 10-17.

  E.V. Thaw & Co., invoice to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Nov. 30, 1981, in CMA curatorial file.

  J.T. Soby, letter to Eugene Thaw, July 20, 1972, in CMA curatorial file.

  E.V. Thaw & Co., invoice to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Nov. 30, 1981, in CMA curatorial file.

  Henning, Edward B. Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Published by the Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1987. Reproduced: P. 71, pl. VI; Mentioned and reproduced: P. 126-127, no. 35

  Arendsee, M., and M. Steinman-Arendsee. "Take the CAN disability aesthetics tour, at the Cleveland Museum of art." CAN Journal (Winter 2019/20): 76-87. Mentioned: p. 86

  Guerra Cabrera, José Carlos. Óscar Domínguez: Obra, Contexto y Tragedia. Islas Canarias: José Carlos Guerra Cabrera, 2020. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 159, fig. 136
• Exhibition History
  Creativity in Art and Science, 1860-1960. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 16-November 8, 1987).

  The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
• Cite this Page
  {{cite web|title=Metaphysical Interior|url=false|author=Giorgio de Chirico, Óscar Domínquez|year=c. 1917–1939|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}