Portrait of Y.E. Kustodieva with son 1904

Boris Kustodiev painted this portrait of his wife and son with oils on canvas sometime in the early 20th century. There’s something so tender and solid about this painting, and it comes from Kustodiev's mark-making; he’s really working the paint. Look at the brushstrokes in her dress. See how they follow the form, defining the folds and curves with a kind of energetic tenderness? It’s not just about depicting fabric, it’s about feeling it, experiencing it. The color palette is muted, mostly browns and creams, but then he throws in this pop of pink in the baby’s dress that just sings. It’s like a little burst of joy amidst the seriousness. I like how that pink rhymes with the flesh tones of the mother and baby's face, which are also made up of many layers of blended color, like a pink that isn't pink. The darkness of the background pushes the figures forward, inviting you to focus on the relationship between mother and child. Kustodiev has echoes of painters like Vuillard, and Bonnard in how he renders a quiet, domestic interior scene with such emotional depth. These painters show us that art is really about feeling, and not just seeing.