Filipp Malyavin. Laughing Girl

Red was Filipp Malyavin's (1869–1940) favourite colour, and laughing women in red made him famous early in his career: his graduation painting "Laughter", showing peasant women in red clothes in a green meadow, won a gold medal at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. "Laughing Girl" in a red headscarf continues this theme.

The picture was painted after 1922. In the autumn of 1922 Malyavin left Russia with his family and settled in Paris; he died in Nice in 1940.

The girl is seen from below, half-length and turned to the right, her figure filling almost the entire canvas. Her arms are folded across her chest; she has a full face with rosy cheeks, and her laughing mouth reveals a row of even white teeth. The dress is painted with broad, bright brushstrokes. At the lower right is the signature in Latin letters: "M. Maliavine". Oil on canvas.