Village Neskuchnoye Kursk Province 1916

Zinaida Serebriakova painted this landscape of the Kursk Province in a way that makes you feel like you are actually in the Russian countryside, breathing in the fresh air. The palette is mostly blues and greens, and she works in broad strokes as though trying to capture the essence of the place, not the details. What I love about this piece is how Serebriakova uses color to create depth and texture. The fields in the foreground are a rich, dark green, while the hills in the distance are a hazy blue. It is possible to see the movement in the brushstrokes, which adds a sense of energy and vitality to the piece. Note the way Serebriakova renders the clouds. Each is like a brushstroke, heavy with water. Serebriakova seems to share something of the sensibility of the American painter, Marsden Hartley, who also made paintings of the landscape in a very direct and personal way. Both artists embrace the ambiguity and multiple interpretations inherent in art, creating spaces of imagination rather than fixed meanings.