Alec Soth: I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating

Taking its name from a line in Wallace Stevens’s poem “The Gray Room,” this body of work investigates the possibilities and limitations of what photographs can convey about the inner lives of their subjects. Intimate and quiet, the images reveal something otherwise unknowable about both the sitter and the photographer.

A color photograph of a birdcage in a garden through a window
A photograph of an electronic organ, with sheet music turned to the song Little Red Corvette.
A photograph of a young man lying on a bed, as seen through a partially open sliding door. Pink flowers on the left.
A photograph of a painting against a faded, cracked wall.
Color photograph of a woman dressed in yellow standing in an empty white room
Color photograph through a doorway of a brick walled garden with a table and chair
A framed photograph of a person in a chair in the corner of a room with transparent white curtains
Color photograph of a vase of tulips on an end table in the corner of a room
A photograph of an elderly woman looking at herself in the mirror, with three reflections.
Color photograph through a window of flowering plants and rooftops beyond.
A photograph of a woman, blurred by movement, arranging stones in a circle on a table
Color photograph through a doorway of two young women in long white dresses looking in.
Color photograph of two people reclining on a bed
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Related Portfolios

Alec Soth: Untitled
A color photograph shows a view of the audience from the podium of a lecture hall.

Alec Soth: Advice for Young Artists
Black and white photograph of two people tossing a rock outdoors

Alec Soth: Songbook
Color image of seated man holding box labeled 'Photos' surrounded by stacks of paper

Alec Soth: A Pound of Pictures