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Haunting photorealistic paintings of abandoned buildings by Matteo Massagrande

We're used to seeing photographs of abandoned places, but it's quite unusual to discover artworks of the same genre of decay. This is where Italian artist Matteo Massagrande might surprise you. He loves to create photorealistic oil paintings of intimate interiors in varying states of deterioration.

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Dark interior hallway with open doors and windows revealing glimpses of an overgrown courtyard with vegetation and crumbling walls beyond

These imagined derelict buildings – once so full of life – are hauntingly depicted through the use of light, a subtle colour palette and a cinematic perspective. As Shine Artists explains: "The viewer is at once drawn inside; through a sequence of rooms, partial views of corridors or terraces. We are invited to wonder what is beyond the open doors, through each window frame and around each corner."

Blending 19th century Italian Realism with contemporary photorealism and Renaissance art techniques, Matteo's cinematic perspectives and eerie light effects suggest the presence of previous inhabitants and their former lives. Find out more at www.artsy.net.

Discovered via Arsty

Dilapidated interior with mismatched patterned floor tiles, open cream-coloured door revealing further rooms with peeling walls and a window beyond
View through open doorways of an abandoned interior with weathered walls, peeling shutters and a gnarled tree visible in sunlit courtyard beyond
Dilapidated corridor with ornate geometric floor tiles leading through open green doors towards a window showing bare tree branches
Deteriorating corridor with peeling yellow walls, geometric patterned floor and open doorways leading into shadowed rooms, a photorealistic oil painting by Matteo Massagrande
Dilapidated interior with open green doors leading to a spiral staircase and decaying rooms bathed in warm light, painted by Matteo Massagrande
Photorealistic oil painting of a deteriorating interior hallway with geometric patterned floor tiles, peeling walls and white doors leading to further rooms
Abandoned room with faded terracotta walls, wooden floorboards and two large windows casting geometric shadows of light across the empty space
Dilapidated corridor with tiled floor and weathered walls, viewed through open doorways towards distant windows and overgrown exterior
Empty room with faded red walls and a gridded window framing urban buildings beyond, with dramatic shadows cast across the floor
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