Portrait of A.B. Serebryakov 1938

Zinaida Serebriakova created this portrait of A.B. Serebryakov using watercolor, and you can see how the immediacy of the medium lends itself to capturing a quiet moment. Look at the way the washes of color build the form. There’s a sort of transparency that makes it feel like you're watching the painting come into being. The redness in the face is so alive! It’s like she's letting us in on a secret, showing us the person beneath the surface. The browns and grays create a subdued, contemplative mood, which is punctuated by these vivid areas of red that make it more intimate. It makes me think of other artists who were also interested in capturing the quiet moments of everyday life, like Édouard Vuillard, who was also interested in these muted color harmonies. It’s a reminder that art is always in conversation, with each artist building on what came before. There’s something unresolved here, which is something I always love in a painting!