Fantasy 1925

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin painted Fantasy with oil on canvas sometime around the early 20th century, and you can really see how the materiality of paint comes alive in this work. The surface is matte, almost chalky, and the colours are muted except for that crazy bright red horse. It's like Petrov-Vodkin wanted to make sure we couldn't ignore the sheer, vibrant energy of this animal. Looking closely, you can see how the paint isn't blended perfectly; there are visible brushstrokes and slight variations in the red, giving the horse a kind of raw, untamed quality. It's as if the paint itself is pushing against the boundaries of the form, trying to break free. This use of colour and form reminds me of some of the German Expressionists, like Franz Marc, who also used bold colours and simplified shapes to convey emotion and spiritual meaning. Petrov-Vodkin, like them, seems less interested in representing the world as it is, and more in capturing something deeper, something more intuitive.