Portrait of Countess Grabowska 1917

Boris Kustodiev painted this portrait of Countess Grabowska, we don't know exactly when, but I'd guess from the colour palette and brushwork that it was an exploratory piece. See how he’s laid the paint on in a kind of mosaic? Up close, each stroke is its own little world. Look at her red jacket, all those little dashes of colour, like he’s trying to capture the very essence of redness, and the shadows in the trees behind her, the almost arbitrary application of darker tones. It’s like he's saying, "This is red, this is green, this is how I see it." It reminds me a little of Matisse, that same joy in colour, that same feeling that the artist is playing with the paint, not just trying to copy what he sees. It makes you wonder what they might have talked about if they ever met. Art’s just this ongoing conversation, isn't it?