Reclining Nude 1930

Zinaida Serebriakova made this "Reclining Nude" with pastel, and it feels like she's letting the process lead. The marks are all so visible, like she’s thinking out loud with the pastel stick. There’s a casualness to the marks here that I really admire. Look at how the blues and reds in the patterned sheet pull forward, creating a contrast with the fleshy tones of the figure, and the soft blues around the figure's shoulder. Notice how the hatching of the pastels is left unconcealed. Serebriakova isn’t trying to hide her working. It’s raw and immediate. It’s like she’s saying, "Here it is, the beauty of a sleeping figure, captured in a moment, with all its imperfections." It puts me in mind of Suzanne Valadon. Like Valadon, Serebriakova seems to let the subject breathe on its own terms. The beauty is in the realness, the unvarnished truth.