In a very useful phrase to define the field of study, Italian architect Paolo Giardiello observes: “To furnish is to facilitate the use of space; to equip space with equipment, tools, utensils necessary for the development of human activities and the satisfaction of needs that are not only primary, connected to the use and functional response of places, but also include psychological, representative and identification needs with the built environment“.
“Architectural space and furnishing equipment,” he continues, “are therefore available for use and their effect goes beyond the practical moment of the simple satisfaction of elementary needs, since furniture determines an aesthetic dimension of everyday life through the very form of ‘inhabiting'”.
THE INSTINCT TO DECORATE THE SPACE AROUND US
Interior design seems so modern that we too often forget how deeply rooted it is in the history (and, indeed, the psychology) of humanity.
The value of furnishings and décor has never been purely functional, which is why interior design constantly draws on art. Of course, throughout history, only a very small portion of humanity has been able to afford the luxury of hiring artists, architects and decorators to beautify their homes.
But the search for harmony, order, beauty or even simply the need to project our identity in the spaces around us is inherent to our human being and has always existed.
Therefore, as far as possible, even ordinary people have always been concerned with satisfying this need.
Even before the figure of the artist as such existed.
What, in fact, are cave paintings if not the first expressions of the intimate relationship between art and interior decoration?
THE CHARM OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE
The cave of Altamira, in the Spanish region of Cantabria, is a great example of “interior decoration” in prehistoric times.
It is no coincidence that it came to be called the “Sistine Chapel” of cave art and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.
It is, in fact, the first time that the existence of cave art in the Upper Paleolithic has been identified.
The story of its discovery is as fascinating as its importance.
The entrance to the cave, about 270 meters long and between two and six meters high, seems to have remained closed for more than ten thousand years due to a landslide. A fact that probably contributed to the preservation of the paintings until their discovery in 1879. But it took more than five years for the cave to reveal its treasure.
THE TURBULENT HISTORY OF ITS DISCOVERY
It was 1868, precisely, when a worker on the farm where the land was located, Modesto Cubillas, discovered the cave: one of the many karst caves in the area. Shortly afterwards I told the owner of the land, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola y Pedrueca, a lawyer and passionate student of prehistory. His first visit to the cave, in search of prehistoric remains and vestiges, did not take place before 1875.
But it was not until the summer of 1879, when María, Marcelino’s daughter, drew her father’s attention to some oxen painted on the walls. Only then did Marcellin find himself in front of a ceiling completely covered with cave paintings. A treasure hidden even in plain sight, since – apparently – the right light and perspective were needed to admire it.
It had probably been millennia since the last time a person had seen these paintings.
In 1880, he communicated his discovery to the scientific community, but did not achieve the desired success.
His attribution to the Paleolithic was considered wrong, to put it mildly.
And there was even a rumor that it was a modern pictorial forgery.
It was only after his death, with the discovery of other examples of Paleolithic rock art in Europe, that the question was reopened.
Thus, a paper by Émile de Cartailhac entitled “Mea Culpa of a Skeptic” went down in history.
And, finally, the discovery received universal recognition. universal recognition which made it an icon of Paleolithic cave art.
According to studies, the present paintings could be attributed to a main author and to other authors and would date from 36,000 to 13,000 years ago.
CAVES WERE THEIR HOMES
“Altamira was painted by sapiens who lived in this area of the Cantabrian Sea, in tribes of 20 or 30 individuals, hunters and gatherers. The caves were their homes, the place where they slept, where they made their tools and hunting utensils,” writes the National Geographic.
The works present a surprising chromatism and workmanship and were surely the cause of many misunderstandings.
This is one of the earliest and most fascinating examples of interior decoration.