Katya at the kitchen table 1923

Zinaida Serebriakova painted “Katya at the Kitchen Table” in watercolor, and right away you notice how she uses light and shadow to soften the edges of everything. It’s like she’s feeling around the forms as she paints them. Everything in this painting feels solid and real, but there’s also something dreamy about it. It's all in the light I think. Look at how she builds up the forms with layers of transparent color, letting the light filter through, like the glow you get through waxed paper. It makes the potatoes and onions seem lit from within. Then there’s the quick flick of the brush to describe the onions' roots, and how it's kind of abstract at the same time as being descriptive. This reminds me of Bonnard, who also painted intimate domestic scenes. But Serebriakova gives us something more down to earth. It’s like she’s saying, “This is life, and it’s beautiful, even when it’s just potatoes and onions on a table."