Nude 1932

Zinaida Serebriakova painted this nude in 1932, and it’s fascinating to see how she builds form through layers of delicate brushstrokes. It's a painting that really makes you consider artmaking as a process. There’s a softness to the modeling of the figure, built from thin washes of color – look at the way the light catches her shoulder, with those subtle shifts in tone. You can almost feel the texture of the canvas beneath the paint. And then there are these decisive strokes of white, defining the folds of the fabric she’s holding, adding a real sense of physicality to the piece. It's interesting to compare this to her earlier self-portraits, there's a similar intimate sensibility, but here she's pushing further into abstraction through color. Serebriakova's work reminds me a bit of Berthe Morisot, there’s a shared interest in capturing fleeting moments with a light touch. Ultimately, this painting is an invitation to slow down and really look, embracing the beauty of ambiguity and multiple interpretations.