Natalia Goncharova at Tate Modern

The work of Natalia Goncharova is one of the big Tate exhibitions this summer and this one is at Tate Modern. I thought I didn't know who she was but then I realised that I'd seen some of her work at an exhibition at the V&A about Diaghilev eight years ago where her designs for 'The Firebird' ballet for the Ballet Russe were on show. I'm pleased to say that I saw some of the designs reproduced when I saw the Royal Ballet dance 'The Firebird' at the Royal Opera House a few weeks ago with Itziar Mendizabal dancing the title role.

Natalia Goncharova was born and educated in Russia but moved to Paris in 1921 where she lived for the rest of her life. She had her first exhibitions in Moscow and St Petersburg before the First World War and was part of the avant-garde in Russia, being a member of several artistic movements including Der Blaue Reiter in Germany and developed Rayonism with her husband Mikhail Larionov. She died in 1962. Her story reminds me of Sonia Delaunay, both marrying artists, both developing new theories of art, both moving to Paris, both working in abstraction, both designing clothes, etc. Sonia was a few years younger than Natalia and died a few years after her. I assume they must have known each other and must have met.

The first couple of small rooms of the exhibition include the early works you'd expect to see in an exhibition but then you move through into the next room, very big and flooded with light. The room is usually divided into smaller spaces but opening it up like this was inspired and a nice surprise. One wall is dominated by the work called 'Harvest' (above) which was originally made up of nice panels but two are lost. This work was part of her first exhibitions in 1913 and 1914 and seems to be based on the tales of the Biblical Apocalypse.

The other walls contained a wide range of mainly larger works, some in her primitive 'cubist' style, others seem to be more along the lines of the Blue Rider and others were simply her own. I loved the bright green parrots, the gardens with graceful trees and flower beds and the paintings of flowers in bright and airy paintings. Part of a wall was filled with an impressive array of female nudes in very different styles.

Further into the exhibition I found this painting, based on Russian embroidery styles. I loved the colour and the repetition of the patterns, a very complicated and detailed design. 'Design with Birds and Flowers' was a study for some textiles she was producing in around 1925-28. Quite a lot of her work seems to have its roots in Russian folklore and folk art.

There are lots of different types of works in this exhibition, not solely paintings. There are dress designs and stage costume designs as well as drawings of stage sets, there are book illustrations and photos of Natalia as a young woman. There are also her modernist versions of traditional Russian icons that seemed to please no-one except herself, with the avant-garde not accepting them as legitimate works and the church not accepting them as icons.

The final, large room of the exhibition is given over to her theatrical work and designs for the Ballet Russe and others. I couldn't help but break into a huge grin when I walked in and saw the costumes in big glass cases while the walls were covered in design sketches and mock-ups. It was interesting to see peoples' responses when they entered the room, with some heading straight for the walls and the framed works while others headed to the costumes - I assume some were more interested in the textiles and how they were made up while others prefer exhibits on paper?

I didn't recognise the play or performance many of the set designs were for but I loved this one - imagine being on stage surrounded by all this wild colour and imagine being in the audience? I wonder if it was ever actually built? It looked like it was all great fun and some of the costume designs were totally over the top.

Something I recognised immediately was the backdrop to the final scene in 'The Firebird', the mythical town with its wild array of buildings going up and up towards the sky. I'd seen a reproduction of this a few weeks ago at the Royal Opera House and I saw what I think was the original filling an entire wall at the V&A years ago at the Diaghilev exhibition. It's gorgeous.

I now know a lot more about Natalia Goncharova than I did before visiting the exhibition. Now that I've had time to think about the works and the breadth of Natalia's talents, I think I need to go back to see it again and look at the works afresh with a better understanding. The exhibition is on until September and is worth a visit to Tate Modern to see.