Cleopatre greek dancer 1910

Léon Bakst made 'Cleopatre Greek Dancer' around 1916, likely with watercolors and pencil. The palette feels muted, almost sun-bleached, focusing on warm reds against cool greens. I’m imagining Bakst conjuring this dancer, playing with the push and pull of pattern against form. Her dress, a field of concentric red ellipses, contrasts so sharply with the sinuous, almost serpentine scarf. He's caught her mid-swirl, the fabric alive in her hands. It's easy to imagine he was trying to capture a fleeting moment, a dancer lost in the music. That dark green scarf really grabs me. It's so fluid, a counterpoint to the geometric dress. Maybe Bakst was exploring these ideas while he was designing for the Ballets Russes. He was really interested in how costumes could create movement. Here, it's like he's pulled her directly from a stage performance. Painting, for Bakst, feels like world-building, and that's something I'm always thinking about in my own work.