The sleeping beauty design for scene IV (the awakening) 1921

Léon Bakst made this stage design with watercolour, gouache, and crayon for scene IV of the Sleeping Beauty ballet. The sweeping, theatrical red of the drapery is built from many layers of wash. I love how you can see the process in the cross-hatching of the marks, like he’s building up the image with colour and tone, rather than starting with a line. This kind of transparency gives a real sense of light, but there are also opaque areas, where the colour sits on the surface. Take a look at that huge eagle at the top of the bed, for instance. It’s so dark, almost silhouetted, and yet full of detail in the wings. It’s like this one area holds all the tension of the piece, balanced against the open, airy space of the ballroom. The scale is also off, like a dream. Bakst reminds me of Delacroix, maybe. He’s interested in how theatre allows you to create a world, and not just represent one.