The girl in the woods 1938

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin created this portrait, *The girl in the woods*, and he’s done so with these tight, precise brushstrokes, layering up a real sense of depth. I’m thinking about the relationship between Petrov-Vodkin and his sitter; that sense of being present in the same space. There’s a stillness to the face; I wonder if it was hard for her to sit, still and silent? What did they talk about? Maybe the artist wanted to capture something beyond her physical appearance. He has painted the background with the same amount of detail as her face. There's a sense of harmony in the composition. Petrov-Vodkin, like all artists, built on the thinking of the generations that came before. Each painter takes note of what others have done, finding ways to push the conversation in new and exciting directions. And each painting offers us, the viewers, a new way of seeing, thinking, and feeling. There's no right or wrong way to connect with an artwork, or one single reading of the subject.