Spanish Woman with a Fan

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: private collection.

A large and diverse in themes and styles cycle of paintings with the name “Spanish Women” is one of the pinnacles of Goncharova’s work of her emigrant period. The temperament of the people and their art inspired the artist. The painting “Spaniard with a Fan” is the one to which we can apply the exclamation of the newspaper critic “these are not women, but whole cathedrals”. Painted in a restrained brown and grey palette and even on deep black background, the image is nevertheless exquisite and decorative. Masterfully painted ornaments with amazing play of colours, the majestic pose itself, even the fact that the person’s half-face is “blurred”, gives the figure a sculptural character.