This article focuses on the concept of intimacy in painting. Based on pictorial examples of the 17th century, it explores two aspects of intimacy: the close relationship (shown by Poussin’s self-portraits) on one hand and the interiority (associated with Vermeer’s intimate genre scenes) on the other. It also aims to demonstrate that the concept of intimacy exceeds the dimension of spatiality and is also attached to the other subject- related categories (such as the manner of painting of the artist).