Spain. Kaldetes. Oliva. 1910

Pyotr Konchalovsky made this ink drawing titled ‘Spain. Kaldetes. Oliva.’ sometime in the first half of the 20th century. Konchalovsky's choice of subject – olive trees in the Spanish countryside – immediately places the work within a tradition of landscape art that, since the 19th century, had been closely associated with the rise of tourism and leisure. It's fascinating to consider what Spain represented to a Russian artist in this period. Was it a symbol of escape from the social realities of his homeland? Or did it offer an opportunity to engage with the modernist movements that flourished in the West? To understand the context of this work more fully, we might research the network of cultural exchange between Russia and Spain in the early 20th century and the history of Russian artists traveling to Spain. By exploring these avenues, we can better appreciate the social life of this artwork.