'Raduga' is Russian for rainbow, which aptly symbolises the art and handicraft exhibition at the Cultural Centre of Russia

'Raduga' is Russian for rainbow, which aptly symbolises the art and handicraft exhibition at the Cultural Centre of Russia

Today is your last chance to catch the exhibition Days of Russia in Mumbai for a holistic dose of Russian culture. You can pick up painting and handicraft items like ornamental knits, music boxes and nesting dolls.

Traditional painting
You'll find works by established Russian artists Anatoli Soloviev and Mansur Sattarov as well as emerging artist Daria Bk. While Soloviev follows a figurative approach that plays with rhythmic movements of colour and shade, Sattarov's natural portraits speak for themselves. Daria Bk's style is full of optimism and infused with her belief, that a human being is capable of creating her own happiness.

Music in a box
Music boxes come as miniatures of Byzantine architecture, complete with kremlins and domes.u00a0 A mini St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square or The Church of Spilled Blood at St Petersburg music box offers a detailed replica of these famous structures. Wind it and it plays Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet and Troshin's Podmoskovnye Vechera.u00a0

Comfort feel
Quilts help you escape the biting cold. But what if you could wrap yourself in a comforter with elaborate patchwork, which is stuffed with Russian cotton?

"A person can take up to a month to sew a full-sized quilt," says Marina Sergevna, artist and researcher, who believes that practising the art form is the only way to truly understand it. Using cloth, she also made small stuffed toys in the shape of dolls and farmyard animals.

Matryoshka dolls
Hand-painted Matryoshka dolls, popularly known as nesting dolls, are distinctive to Russia. 'Matryoshka' comes from the Latin root 'mater' which stands for mother. The etymology probably explains the doll's portly figure, sometimes depicted with an entire family.

Khokhloma painting
Watch artists in traditional costume create Khokhloma paintings, a Russian wood handicraft known for its vivid flower patterns. A team of 10 work together to create a single piece, starting with the carving of seasoned soft wood, drying it in a kiln, covering it with clay, polishing it and then painting it. Lacquer and heat bake the design into the wood.

At: The Cultural Centre of Russia, 31 A, Dr Gopal Deshmukh Marg, Peddar Road, 10 am to 8 pm
Call: 23510793