Natalia Goncharova

Natalia Goncharova was a Russian and French painter and designer, who was one of the most prominent figures of the Russian avant-garde movement. She was born on June 4, 1881 in Nagayevo, a village in the Tula Governorate of the Russian Empire. She studied painting and sculpture at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, where she met her lifelong partner Mikhail Larionov. She was influenced by Russian folk art, icons, and lubki, as well as by Cubism and Futurism. She was a founding member of the Jack of Diamonds and the Donkey's Tail groups, and with Larionov invented Rayonism, an approach that sought to portray the spatial qualities of reflected light. She also participated in the Post-Impressionist exhibition in London and the Blaue Reiter exhibition in Munich. She moved to Paris in 1914, where she became a designer for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. She created costumes and sets for several ballets, such as Le Coq d'Or, Les Noces, and The Firebird. She also experimented with different media, such as collage, textile, ceramics, and film. She became a French citizen in 1938 and continued to work and exhibit until her death in 1962 from cancer. She is regarded as one of the most original and influential Russian modernist artists of the 20th century.