Scream

The painting follows the canon, but the face does not: the mouth is open. The roses are built in relief, the halo rendered in gold leaf.

The souvenir is stripped away; what stays is the shape, the face and the pattern, laid down like an icon on gold, red or dark ground. A doll that holds another doll becomes an image that holds another image.

Matryoshka with an open mouth, roses on the apron, gold halo.