The Anteroom

The Anteroom, at the Círculo del Liceo in Barcelona, is one of Ramon Casas's interiors from 1901, painted for or acquired by the exclusive Barcelona social club whose collection includes several of his major works. The anteroom — a waiting or transitional space before the main rooms of a formal establishment — was an unusual pictorial subject, chosen perhaps for its suggestion of social suspension, the liminal moment before admission to an event or audience. Casas's treatment of the theme reflects his Parisian experience of fashionable interiors and his ability to render social spaces with ease.

Casas handles the interior space with controlled tonal depth, the anteroom's furnishings and architectural details rendered with the elegant economy of a painter who could place a figure or a chair with minimal descriptive effort. His characteristic grey-toned atmospheric approach prevents the interior from becoming cluttered despite its period furnishing.