'After the Ball' (1895) by Ramon Casas i Carbó; Museo de la Abadía de Montserrat, Barcelona |
Already weeks ago I found out that Ramon Casas i Carbó had died on 29 February 1932, and that I could use him for this post. I had never heard of this painter before I went to the Barcelona exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum some years ago. The poster for the exhibition had an image of the poster Casas had made for an advertisement for Codorniu Champagne. I didn't want to do a post on the poster (although I love it and a small version of it is hanging framed in my kitchen) so to choose something else was quite difficult because there are many paintings that I like. Casas portrayed the Catalan bourgeoisie, mainly women, and also painted bullfights. I chose this painting of a young lady slouched on the sofa because its image features in a book that I have of women reading in art and I have loved this green and black painting ever since.