Still Life with Tiger 1915

Natalia Goncharova made this "Still Life with Tiger" without dating it, using paint to create a riot of imagery. The painting's surface vibrates with intense energy, and you can almost feel Goncharova's hand moving across the canvas, laying down colors with bold, impulsive gestures. It’s as if the process of painting itself is the subject. Look at the way she's built up the layers of paint, thick and opaque in some areas, thinner and more transparent in others. The stripes of the tiger are these slashing strokes of orange and black, but they have a real gestural quality. This gives them a kind of emotional punch that goes beyond mere representation. It’s not just a tiger, but the feeling of a tiger, a raw, primal force rendered in paint. I see echoes of Matisse in Goncharova’s use of bold, simplified forms and Fauvist use of color. But she brings something else entirely, a kind of raw, untamed energy that’s all her own. With every layer and choice, it's not just about depicting things but about how we encounter them.