the abstract interior had lost its earlier social idealism and its reliance on
architecture, however, and had moved into the realm of stylish, modern
luxury. The striking Modernist private residences of the inter-war years,
with their sophisticated inside spaces, offered a high cultural model of
the modern domestic interior which remained in place in the years after
1945. They provided a level of artistic aspiration that was rarely fulfilled
in occupied spaces. In artistic terms the Barcelona Pavilion was, perhaps,
the ultimate modern interior but, significantly, it was only ever meant to
be inhabited for a matter of minutes. Although the Modernist interior
was rarely successful in the context of the home, where commercial inter -
iors were concerned, however – spaces that were not meant to be lived in
but that needed to make an instant impact on their occupants – the stark
Modernist interior, complete with Mies van der Rohe chairs, was soon to
come into its own.184