Portrait of a Boy 1910

Zinaida Serebriakova painted this Portrait of a Boy with what looks like delicate brushstrokes and a muted palette. It feels like the kind of painting where the process is really upfront. I find myself drawn to how the colors are layered. There’s this beautiful, almost transparent quality to the browns and reds in his coat. You can practically see the ghost of each brushstroke, like she’s building up the form bit by bit. It's interesting how the paint is applied thinly in some areas, allowing the texture of the paper to peek through, and then built up in others, creating a real sense of depth and volume. Look at the way she captures the light on his face, with these soft, almost imperceptible gradations of color, that really makes you focus on his expression. The looseness makes me think a little of John Singer Sargent, but with a kind of melancholic Russian twist. It's a reminder that painting is never just about depicting a subject, but also about capturing a feeling, a mood, a moment in time.