The evangelists (in four parts) 1911

Natalia Goncharova made these four paintings of evangelists with what looks like oil or tempera on board. I imagine her, brush in hand, trying to give form to something invisible—the Word. These aren’t portraits, exactly, but studies in how to convey meaning, right? It’s like each figure is caught in a moment of intense thought, puzzling over the mysteries they’re about to write down. The colours are moody – deep blues, reds, and purples – giving the scene a kind of spiritual weightiness. See how the scrolls pop against the darker backgrounds? Those stark white shapes! And the hands. The gestures... See how they guide our reading and speak volumes. Goncharova was doing so much at this time, engaging with cubism, futurism, and Russian folk art. You can almost feel her wrestling with all these ideas. When you look at these paintings, you are seeing not just one artist's vision, but a link in a chain of artists, each riffing off the others, trying to make something new.