Portrait of V. M. Nesterova 1908

Mikhail Nesterov created this portrait of V. M. Nesterova with oils on canvas. You can almost feel the artist gently coaxing her likeness into being, stroke by stroke. The woman reclines in a gauzy white dress that seems to float around her. It’s all careful brushwork, light, and shadow playing across the surface of her skirt. I imagine Nesterov, palette in hand, considering each hue and texture, the way the fabric drapes and folds, how the light catches her face. There’s a push and pull here between realism and something more ethereal, something in the way the soft palette gives the sitter a dreamlike quality. Maybe he was thinking about the Old Masters, their delicate touch, their ability to capture a sense of fleeting beauty. I love this quiet hum of art history—these artists build on each other, speak to each other across time. Painting allows for ambiguity and uncertainty, and this portrait surely embodies that.