In the early decades of the nineteenth century, views of interiors flourished as an independent genre. These indoor counterpoints of vedutte and topographical paintings combine charm and precision and range from palaces to bourgeois interiors. Some are the work of professionals, others were painted by more or less talented amateurs, mostly in watercolours and gouache.

Views of interiors enjoyed a revival in post-Second World War France thanks to Alexandre Serebriakoff. Already during the war, while armoured divisions clashed on the steppes of Kursk near his hometown, Serebriakoff was painting the neo-romantic interiors at Groussay, Charles de Beistegui’s country house near Paris, in a style strongly reminiscent of his nineteenth century forebears.

Young Diego de Mora met Serebriakoff when he was a very old man, in his studio in Paris, and was soon producing his own paintings of interiors with commissions ranging from the Royal Palace in Madrid to a ski club in St Moritz, from an Ottoman house on the Bosphorus to a Georgian house on Green Park, from a harness room in Extremadura to an Art Déco bathroom in Paris.

Diego de Mora’s views of interiors are painted on commission, on paper, combining inks, watercolours, gouache and pencils. Size and proportions varies, larger pictures measure around 40x30 cm, smaller ones around 30x25 cm.

Diego de Mora spends a day on site making sketches and taking photographs. He then works in his study in Madrid, a long and meticulous process that requires time, several months depending on the waiting list. Once finished the pictures are carefully framed, in consultation with the client, sometimes using antique frames.

Sometimes the client appears in the picture, but the main subject is the room itself.