Sketches of scenery for Sadko by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 1914

Ivan Bilibin made these sketches of scenery for Sadko, a Russian opera, with what looks like watercolour and ink. What strikes me is the confidence of line and the flattening of space, an approach to artmaking as a kind of world building. I’m drawn to the little details, like the sun with a face and the rainbow arching over the ships. The colours are muted, almost as if seen through a mist. There’s a dream-like quality to the scene, a sense of folklore and fantasy, but also a rigorous attention to pattern and decoration. Look at the geometric patterns on the walls, the way Bilibin has balanced them with the free-flowing lines of the landscape. It reminds me of the Arts and Crafts movement, of William Morris’s designs, but with a Russian twist. Bilibin was part of a wider movement of artists who were interested in reviving traditional Russian art forms, and you can see that in the stylised figures and the decorative elements. It’s like he’s creating a stage set, a world of myth and legend that’s both familiar and strange. Art doesn't need to be true, it can be real.