Natalia Goncharova, Set design for ‘Le Coq d'Or’ by Rimsky-Korsakov for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1914

On the recommendation of Alexandre Benois, Serge Diaghilev invites Natalia Goncharova to Paris in 1914, to work on the production of ‘Le Coq d’Or’ composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera, based on Pushkin’s fairy tale and political satire Le Coq d'Or, inspired a colourful decor that established Goncharova as a leading painter and stage designer. Her success paved the way for further collaborations between the Ballets Russes and painters such as Mikhail Larionov, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse.

Natalia Goncharova's costume designs, set studies and curtain designs for the opera-ballet are housed today in many important public collections including the Harvard Theatre Collection; the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum, San Antonio; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.