Blue House 1920

Boris Kustodiev made this painting, Blue House, using oil paint, and right away you can see his love for the daily life of Russia through the figures of the townspeople. Kustodiev created a layered world with people up high on the roof and in the house, and others down below. There’s a feeling that the artist had to solve it all, area by area, as the painting emerged. The surface of the house is built with blocks of colour – it's not a flat blue, but alive. The roof-walker might be Kustodiev himself. The way he is standing there with a red flag is a symbol of something between hope and change. You can almost feel the paint, thick in some places, thin in others. I mean, the colour sings. The man at the top connects directly with all of us viewers. It reminds me of Chagall, or maybe even Rousseau. Artists like Kustodiev have this way of embracing uncertainty, and it's this freedom that lets us all bring our own interpretations to the painting.