Ballet washroom 1924

Zinaida Serebriakova made this intimate painting of dancers backstage, and it's like catching a glimpse into a private world, you know? It feels like she's thinking about how dancers prepare, all the steps they take to become someone else. What strikes me is the warm color palette. It's like a hug, right? The paint is applied with short, visible strokes, creating a kind of raw, almost unfinished quality. Like in the dancer's calf on the right: see how the light hits it? The way Serebriakova uses these strokes and variations in tone feels really modern. It's funny, this work reminds me of Degas, but with a distinctly female gaze. Both artists were interested in dancers, but the emotional focus feels different, more from the inside. Ultimately, it's about seeing beauty in the everyday, and understanding that art is always in conversation with what came before.