Picnic 1920

Boris Kustodiev made this painting, Picnic, with oils probably sometime in the early 20th century. What strikes me first is the way he’s handled the light and color – that sky is just glowing, and the way the greens melt into the yellows and blues feels so luscious, like a hot summer’s day. It’s a bit like Bonnard in that way, that sense of capturing a feeling more than a scene. Looking closer, you see how the paint is applied in these short, dab-like strokes. The texture is really important, I think. If you follow the upward strokes of paint that form the smoke of the fire you get this real sense of movement. You get the sense that the painting is still alive, still being made, you can almost feel him dabbing away at the canvas, searching. Kustodiev often painted these scenes of Russian life with a kind of nostalgic, folksy charm. His later works are more stylised and theatrical, but here, you sense that he is reaching back to an imagined past. It reminds me of Pieter Breugel. Like all the best art, it’s less about a definitive statement and more about an invitation to dream.