1913
Oil on canvas
143 х 108

Tatlin considered the work to be programmatic and called it a “composition from a naked model.” He believed it was important not so much to depict the sitter as such, but to use the sitter to express his own artistic concept – a unique combination of principles from icon painting and Cubism. The contours are simplified, but nonetheless precisely define the shape. Space has been structured rhythmically by juxtaposed curved lines. Volume is conveyed by broad lines that are inked in from pale to dark. The artist uses the method of combining movements in different directions: the head of the nude model is turned sharply to the left, but her torso and legs are in the opposite side, and all of this leads to a dynamic balance. The contrasts of movements and colours are balanced, and thanks to this the depiction is abstracted, takes on the character of a symbol, a sign. This image of the nude model, of a woman, the form of the human body created according to defined laws which the artist strives to reveal.

at 10, Krymsky Val, Hall 2