Depicting the Russian ballerinas Anna Pavlova and Ida Rubinstein dancing "Cléopâtre", Kees van Dongen's painting commemorates a key event in cultural history: the 1909 inaugural season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets "Russes" in Paris. The artist loved the modern and the exotic in life and in art; the brilliant colours, stylized curves, and rhythmic composition of his painting evoke the sensual languor of the dance and the exuberance of night life in Paris.