Gatchina. Interior 1922

Zinaida Serebriakova made this dreamy interior, Gatchina, with pastel on cardboard, capturing a room steeped in a faded grandeur. What grabs me is how the velvety texture of the pastels blurs the edges of everything, softening the light and giving the whole scene a kind of hushed, almost melancholy feel. Check out the way the blue of the furniture just *pops* against the muted browns and greens of the walls. It's like a little jolt, a reminder of the vibrancy that once filled this space. And then there's the light, filtering in from the doorway, creating these soft pools on the floor. It's all so delicately rendered, you can almost feel the silence of the room. It reminds me a bit of some of Vuillard's interiors, that same sense of intimacy and quiet observation. Both artists seem to be saying something about the way we inhabit space, and how those spaces shape our memories and emotions.