Harvest 1910

Zinaida Serebriakova laid down this landscape in warm yellows and muted violets, capturing a panoramic scene of the harvest. I love the soft, hazy quality of the light, it feels like a memory. I can imagine Serebriakova standing in the field, squinting at the sun, trying to capture the essence of this moment. She’s working fast, trying to get it down, trying to fix a moment in time. The paint is applied in these loose, broken strokes, like she’s trying to match the feeling of the wind rustling through the wheat. Look at the way she’s dabbed and dragged the paint, creating this textured surface that almost feels like you could reach out and touch it. I wonder if she was thinking about other artists who painted fields – maybe Van Gogh or Millet? Painting is a conversation, artists talking to each other across time. It’s a way of seeing the world and saying, "Hey, I see it too." There's so much to see in this work, it feels so open.