O estudo da hist�ria da arte no Brasil costumava tratar o s�culo 19 e o 20 como dois per�odos bastante distintos, quase conflitantes, sobre os quais n�o era poss�vel conceber que houvesse di�logo. Nos �ltimos anos, com as revis�es historiogr�ficas sobre a abordagem modernista, os pesquisadores valorizaram a produ��o oitocentista e por consequ�ncia abriram o campo para novas possibilidades de estudo sobre a arte nas primeiras d�cadas dos anos 1900. O presente artigo intenciona contribuir com essas pesquisas, propondo uma leitura para al�m das transforma��es est�ticas ocorridas nesse per�odo, tendo como ponto de partida as representa��es do ateli� vazio. Assim, considerando o ateli� vazio um tema por excel�ncia na arte do s�culo 19, investigamos sua persist�ncia no s�culo 20 apesar das mudan�as de paradigma na pintura. Para tanto, reunimos algumas obras realizadas entre os anos 1880 e 1950 aproximadamente, nas quais observamos aspectos sobre a posi��o do artista como profissional, a concep��o da arte e da realidade que os cerca.Palavras-chaveAteli� vazio. S�culos 19 e 20. Pintura. Artista.�AbstractThe study of Art History in Brazil used to treat the 19th century and the 20th century as two very distinct, almost conflicting periods, about which it was not possible to conceive that there were dialogues. In recent years, with the historiographic revisions on the modernist approach, researchers have valued the nineteenth-century production and consequently opened the field to new possibilities of studying art in the early 1900s. The present article intends to contribute to this research, proposing a reading beyond the aesthetic transformations that occurred in this period, taking as a starting point the representations of the empty studio. Thus, considering the empty studio a theme par excellence in 19th century art, we investigate its persistence in the 20th century despite the paradigm shifts in painting. To this end, we gathered some works from approximately 1880 to 1950, in which we observed aspects about the position of the artist as a professional, the conception of art and the reality that surrounds them.Keywords:Empty studio. 19th and 20th centuries. Painting. Artist.