Powder Room

Gender and space

The luxury powder room of the Palacio de Dos Aguas, which houses the Museo Nacional de Cerámica, is located on the main floor, between the porcelain room and the antechamber. Formerly it could be accessed solely through the porcelain room. From the medieval chamber to the powder room and boudoir, women have been assigned a space within the domestic sphere. While the medieval chamber could be either public or private, the powder room was an area of retreat and isolation that served different functions: social, where women could receive close friends; personal care; study and work. The narration and representation of 19th-century powder rooms tended to focus on the activities of washing, beauty, and even eroticism and licentiousness, generally disregarding the other functions.