Landscape in the Kostroma region 1914

Boris Kustodiev's small landscape painting of the Kostroma region is made with oil on canvas. It feels like a scene viewed from a train window – a brief encounter, not a grand vista. Look at the way the green field extends to the horizon under a moody sky, meeting simple structures. Imagine the brushstrokes capturing the light, the air, the very feeling of the Russian countryside. You can sense the artist thinking about the weight and texture of the paint, layering it, scraping it back. The artist’s marks accumulate into a vision. Kustodiev, despite struggling with illness, had a real passion for depicting Russian life. Maybe painting was a way for him to hold onto the world, to make it solid. When I look at this, I remember Fairfield Porter and his quiet scenes of everyday life. Artists look at each other, you know? They borrow, steal, and transform. It is a conversation across time. Painting, ultimately, invites us to pause, to look closely, and to find something new each time.