Petrushka's Chamber. Set Design

This is a set design for Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka, and as such includes typical elements of set design, including the side curtains, the backdrop, and an open space in the center of the stage for the ballet dancers. As an idea of what the stage will look like, it evinces more of a movement of color and emotion, like a canvass on which the dancers will paint, rather than a painting telling us the story of the dancers. There is an illustration of a dancer in the foreground of the set design, which serves two purposes. Because Benois was also a costume designer, he was able to illustrate what the dancers should look like in the sets, as well as what the sets would look like themselves. This set design does just that, by illustrating a dancer in the foreground, bounding and leaping in what looks like a clown costume.