Souvenir of the Russian Opera Season 1909 Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)
Depicting the Russian ballerinas Ana Pavlova and Ida Rubinstein dancing Cléopâtre, van Dongen’s painting commemorates the 1909 inaugural season of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris. The artist loved the modern and the exotic in both life and in art; brilliant colours, stylized curves and rhythmic composition of his painting evoke the languor of the dance and the exuberance of Parisian night life.
Souvenir of the Russian Opera Season 1909 Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)
Depicting the Russian ballerinas Ana Pavlova and Ida Rubinstein dancing Cléopâtre, van Dongen’s painting commemorates the 1909 inaugural season of Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in Paris. The artist loved the modern and the exotic in both life and in art; brilliant colours, stylized curves and rhythmic composition of his painting evoke the languor of the dance and the exuberance of Parisian night life.