“Carnival”

A ring of villagers in patchwork skirts, shawls and fur hats link arms and dance in the snow beside a tall straw effigy dressed in a colorful patchwork coat, its arms tied with red ribbons; a decorated wheel strung with streamers stands beside it like a sun symbol. One man plays an accordion as the group whirls together. In the foreground a tall harlequin figure in a black-and-white checkered costume and pointed cap holds a pipe and a painted mask beside his own face, with a companion in a red-striped coat behind him.

Bold, flattened blocks of red, blue, yellow and orange stand out against a plain blue sky and white snow, giving the scene a folk-art, decorative flatness rather than deep perspective. Forms are simplified and outlined, brushwork loose and pattern-driven. The mood is festive and boisterous, capturing costumed winter carnival revelry.