The artwork “Ennui” by Walter Sickert, created circa 1913, is an oil painting on canvas representative of the Post-Impressionism art movement. This genre painting is currently housed in the Tate Modern in London, UK.
In “Ennui,” Sickert portrays a scene marked by an atmosphere of mundane tedium and quiet despair. The composition features two figures: a man, seemingly lost in thought, seated near the foreground, and a woman leaning indifferently against a dresser in the background. The subdued color palette and the figures’ disinterest convey a sense of weariness and emotional distance, highlighting the theme of ennui, or existential boredom, pervasive in the artwork’s setting. The room is sparsely decorated, with a prominent painting on the wall depicting a reclining woman, enhancing the narrative of internal discontent and passive resignation.
