Costume design for the ballet "Cleopatra"
| Support Type: | Paper |
| Paint Type: | Ink |
| Current Location: | Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
Léon Bakst’s Cleopatra costume design reflects the social and cultural upheavals of early twentieth-century Europe, when traditional ideas of femininity, artistic respectability and theatrical performance were being challenged. Created for the Ballets Russes’ Paris season in 1909, the design helped transform ballet from an art governed by established classical conventions into a more experimental, visually integrated form. Its exposed torso, assertive pose and sensuous, flowing fabrics construct a female figure who appears physically commanding rather than merely delicate or ornamental. This was particularly striking in an era when women’s public roles and bodily autonomy were becoming increasingly contested. Ida Rubinstein’s portrayal of Cleopatra intensified this disruption, presenting female power through an unconventional body and a commanding stage presence. Yet the work’s modernity was inseparable from its Orientalism. Ancient Egypt became a vehicle for European fantasies of sensuality, excess and danger, allowing audiences to encounter sexualised spectacle under the guise of historical distance. Bakst’s designs therefore challenged conservative theatrical conventions while reproducing Western hierarchies between a supposedly rational Europe and an imagined, exotic East. The Ballets Russes’ success also reflected Paris’s position as an international centre of avant-garde culture, where Russian artists could gain recognition by reworking European expectations of foreignness. Bakst’s revolution was consequently double-edged: he expanded ballet’s expressive possibilities while revealing how modernist innovation could depend on the commodification of cultural difference.
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