La Pisanella ou La Morte Parfumee

Bakst created the present design for the 1913 production of La Pisanelle by Gabriele d’Annunzio at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. For this play, directed by Vsevolod Meyerhold, Ida Rubinstein was engaged in the leading role and the choreography was by Mikhail Fokine. Bakst’s design is unusually arresting, depicting the arrival of ships at the ancient Cypriot port of Famagusta, and is full of typically “Bakstian” movement. The exquisite colours of this small but significant work rank it among Bakst’s undisputed watercolour masterpieces.