Woman in green dress 1922

Boris Grigoriev painted this portrait of a woman in a green dress with oils on canvas. The woman’s gaze drifts to the side, giving us the impression that she is looking at something else, perhaps something more interesting than us, the viewer. There is a flower and a goldfish bowl on the table in front of her, and both of these objects serve as symbols of artifice: flowers are cut and arranged, and fish are kept as pets. The painting was most likely made in France, during the interwar period when Grigoriev was an émigré. In this period, Grigoriev painted a number of portraits, and this one is striking for its ambiguous attitude to the role of women. The woman is fashionable, but not excessively so, and she is presented as an object of aesthetic contemplation, yet with an air of detachment. Through careful historical research, it is possible to learn much more about the social role of women in this period. The art historian can bring the portrait to life by setting it in its full social and institutional context.