Portrait of Natasha Lancere with a cat 1924

Zinaida Serebriakova made this portrait of Natasha Lancere with a cat using pastel in 1924. Serebriakova’s colour palette is pretty soft, warm and muted here, which gives the portrait a gentle, intimate feeling. It’s really nice to see the workings of the artist's hand. Looking at the surface, you can see how Serebriakova built up the image with layers of pastel. It's amazing how she uses the strokes to suggest the textures of the girl's skin and hair, and the cat's fur. There is a sense of movement. In the background, you've got these bold, sketchy marks that contrast with the more detailed rendering of the figures. It makes you think about the relationship between the foreground and background, the finished and unfinished. The work of Berthe Morisot comes to mind. Like Morisot, Serebriakova uses visible brushwork and a light touch to create a sense of immediacy. Art is always in conversation with itself, artists riffing on the ideas of those who came before. There's no one right way to see it.