Petersburg. Palace 1925

Boris Kustodiev created "Petersburg. Palace" sometime before his death in 1927. Here, the artist invites us to experience Russia’s imperial identity as something akin to theater. Kustodiev lived through the end of Tsarist Russia and the beginning of the Soviet Union. During this period, national identity became a complex issue. The artist’s choice to stage the image behind what appears to be the proscenium of a theater complicates any straightforward reading of national pride. The trappings of power and the symbols of nationhood are on display, but the heavy curtains imply an artificiality that troubles the waters. Note the sleeping guard at the lower left corner, and the smiling sun which seems to mock all that it shines upon. Is Kustodiev offering a critical view of Russian Imperialism? Or is it an elegy for a lost world? Perhaps both. The genius of this painting lies in its ability to hold both love and contempt for old world Russia.