Girl with a Flower 1913

Pavel Filonov made this painting, “Girl with a Flower,” with pencil and oil on paper. It's a small artwork, only 20 x 20 cm. I can only imagine what was going through Filonov’s head when he made this—the figures, buildings and horses are all crammed together, as if the picture plane can barely contain them. His forms feel restless, with angular, insistent lines. The colour palette is muted, made up of thin layers of whites, browns, and greys with the occasional red or green accent. The figures are rendered with intense scrutiny—just look at the way he’s multiplied the arms and hands of the central figure! Filonov was interested in the fractured reality of Cubism but he seems to also draw on Russian folk art. It is as if he wants to show all aspects of reality in a single painting. The result is a work that feels like it’s always moving, always shifting. It shows us that painting is a space of constant change, where our understanding is never fixed.