Scetch At Kupavina's house for Ostrovsky's "Wolves and Sheep" 1926

Boris Kustodiev made this theatre design, called Scetch At Kupavina's house for Ostrovsky's "Wolves and Sheep", with paint. It’s like he’s building a stage set with brushstrokes! Look at how the paint sits on the surface – it's not trying to hide itself or be super slick. You can see the hand in it, the way he's pushing the paint around. The colours too – that almost acidic yellow wallpaper next to the intense pink, it feels theatrical, you know? It is like he is looking for the right notes in a chord, not a perfect picture. Check out the details on that screen in the background. It's a simple zig-zag shape, but the way he's added those little floral motifs, it feels so lively and immediate. To me, this piece has some connection to Matisse’s interiors, a similar sense of decorative composition and space, but with a Russian flavour. What do you think? Art is just a big conversation, anyway.