Romà Ribera i Cirera: Painting the Fancy Life

Romà Ribera i Cirera (1848-1935) was a Catalonian painter whose genre was high society, though one source stated that he would have preferred to portray poor people. His Catalan Wikipedia entry is here, and the one in Spanish here. More biographical detail, also in Spanish and Catalan, is here.

In brief, Ribera received formal art training in his native Barcelona, then moved to Rome for a few years where his paintings began to gain recognition. Goupil, the French art dealer, featured his work, and he lived in Paris for a while, eventually returning to Barcelona. He lived to age 86, but his final years were in poverty.

Like a many artists of his generation, Ribera was skilled and well-trained. Better yet, he was able to paint interesting scenes in a pleasing way. His highly representational style was helpful early in his career, but seems to have made his work increasingly passé, even in comparatively artistically conservative Spain.

Gallery

Dama con traje de noche - 1893

De soirée - c. 1894

Woman powdering her nose

Going to the Ball

Dona de l'antifaç
Woman with ball mask.

Salida del baile
Exiting the ball.

Epilogo de un baile de máscaras - c. 1891
Following a masked ball.

Sleeping woman
An "after the ball" scene?

Arrival
At the theatre?

Sortida del Liceu - c. 1913
Leaving the Barcelona opera house.