Trinity 1915

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin's 'Trinity’ feels like it was made with a blend of reverence and restlessness. Look at the washes of color and nervous lines dancing on the surface – it feels like the painting is in constant dialogue with itself. You can imagine him, leaning in close, wrestling with form and meaning. The figures emerge from a haze of color, and a vibrant palette of ochres, reds, blues and greens gives them a living, breathing quality, like an apparition, a sense of movement, of becoming. The faces, with their simplified features, hover between the earthly and the divine. It reminds me of some of the early Renaissance artists, like Giotto, who were also trying to capture the sacred in human form. What a great challenge! Petrov-Vodkin is in conversation with them, and with all of us. This is what painting is all about.