1918 in Petrograd 1920

Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin created "1918 in Petrograd" sometime in 1918, we think. There's a blue wash over everything, even the buildings, which gives the whole scene a really eerie kind of glow. I wonder if he labored to get that effect, pushing and pulling the paint across the surface to get that haunting blue hue. I can imagine Petrov-Vodkin up there in his studio, trying to capture not just what he saw but also what he felt during those crazy times, maybe thinking about the Madonna, the Russian Orthodox tradition, or other painters doing mother and child images. It makes you realize we are all just part of this big conversation that spans centuries. Painting is just the record of an exchange of ideas, like a question that never gets a fixed answer.