Haymaking 1917

Boris Kustodiev made this painting, Haymaking, with what looks like oil paint on canvas. I love the way the blues and greens pull you into the landscape with all these figures dotted around. Imagine Kustodiev, setting up his easel, trying to capture not just what he sees but what it feels like to be there, amidst the labour and this collective effort. Look at the way the trees are rendered with a kind of impressionistic touch – they're not just trees, they're alive and breathing with the rhythm of the scene. And the women, raking and gathering, their dresses bright against the green – each stroke feels like a celebration of their energy. I wonder if Kustodiev was thinking of other landscape painters like Monet or Pissarro. I bet he was trying to honor the everyday, the grit, the beauty of ordinary life, just like those painters did. Painting’s kind of a conversation like that, isn’t it? A way to look, to feel, to pass it on.