1866 -1924 · Grodno, Saint Petersburg, Paris and Ballets Russes

Fiery colors, sensual silhouettes and theatrical invention make Léon Bakst the great visual magician of the Ballets Russes.

Lev Samoilovich Rosenberg, known as Léon Bakst, was born in 1866 in Grodno in the Russian Empire. Trained in Saint Petersburg, he worked as an illustrator, portraitist and decorator before participating with Alexandre Benois and Serge Diaghilev in the founding of the movement and the Mir Iskusstva magazine, Le Monde de l'art. Bakst defends a creation that unites painting, literature, music, history and decorative arts. From 1909, Diaghilev's Ballets Russes offered him an international scene. For Cleopatra, Scheherazade, The Specter of the Rose, Daphnis et Chloé or The Afternoon of a Faun, he designed sets and costumes as the same moving space. Saturated colors, orientalizing patterns, sinuous lines and bold contrasts extend the dancer's body instead of enclosing it. His creations immediately influence fashion, interior decoration and Parisian taste. Bakst also teaches, creates portraits and collaborates with Ida Rubinstein, Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky. Ida Rubinstein and Nijinsky's portraits of wildlife preserve the tension between person, role and costume that characterizes all his art. Died in Paris in 1924, he left a modern conception of the total spectacle where each color participates in the choreography. Died in Paris in 1924, he left a modern conception of the total spectacle where each color participates in the choreography. The selection "Léon Bakst" notably compares Nijinsky in L'After-midi d'un faun and Ida Rubinstein. His reading favors space.

Bakst dresses the movement itself: color leaves the canvas, passes through the costume and dances in space.