Natalia Goncharova is an artist from western Russia. Coming from the lower nobility, she nevertheless grew up in the rural world, then trained in sculpture and painting with Russian artists. From the start of her career, Natalia Goncharova became part of many artistic movements, which allowed her to enrich herself with styles and themes through the productions of avant-garde artists.

She was first introduced to Impressionism, Cubism and then Futurism. She launched neo-primitivism with her husband, then together they founded Rayonism, where they worked on the effects of fragmentation. In her performances, she mixes her different influences with the memories of her childhood, from icons - and popular Russian imagery, and uses themes centered on religion and the peasantry.

In the work “Cyclist” she uses Rayonism to fragment her scene and create movement in time and space, a dynamism influenced by Italian Futurism. It represents a male figure leaning on a bicycle, pedaling in an environment whose cobblestones and posters - suggest that it is a city. It shows the movement and the speed of the object, the bicycle, unlike the decor which remains motionless.

Natalia Goncharova is one of the main painters of the Ballets Russes. Exhibited in European galleries and Salons, she is also the first avant-garde Russian woman to land a retrospective in Moscow, which will make her a model in her country for female artists.

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