Romanov-Borisoglebsk. Left side. Sketch

A row of old two-story provincial houses lines a street shaded by a large bare-branched tree, with a person walking near a fence and a pole strung with small triangular pennants. Above the rooftops, two elongated human figures drift horizontally through the pale sky, one wrapped in a dark coat, the other in blue, as if floating or flying over the sleepy street below.

Loose black ink contours map the architecture and figures, overlaid with translucent washes of ochre, sage green and dusty pink, with large areas of bare paper left untouched. The quick, unfinished handling and the juxtaposition of ordinary townscape with floating figures give the sketch an airy, dreamlike, quietly surreal mood.