1910
Paper, gouache, water-colour, bronze paint
82,5 õ 102
The production of the ballet "Firebird" became the epitome of national romanticism in S.P.Dyagilev's Russian Seasons. The scenario was penned by the writer A.M.Remizov, who had succeeded in captivating choreographer M.M.Fokin and composer I.F.Stravinsky with images from Russian folklore.
"Golovin's scenery created on the stage an atmosphere of beauty - a beauty unawaken, spellbinding …seducing," a viewer recalled. The study presents an enchanted world: "Kashchei's kingdom". The ornamentally intertwining trees and clouds sprout towers of a fairy-land town. The filigree pattern plays variations on the theme of a feather of the Firebird, which is expected to break in and irradiate this dark world with its magnificence.
The image of fairy-land kingdom emerges from involved transformations of ornamental forms, which create an image like a tune. One gets the feeling that "sounds are generated by colours, and the colours, by music" (Gabriel Marseilles).
