The Firebird music and art to western audiences. Like Stravinsky, Diaghilev had initially studied law, but had gravitated via journalism into the theatrical world. In 1907, he began his theatrical career by presenting five concerts in Paris; in the following year, he introduced Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov". In 1909, still in Paris, the Ballets Russes was launched, initially with Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from "Prince Igor" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade". To present these works, Diaghilev recruited the choreographer Michel Fokine, the designer Léon Bakst and the dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Diaghilev's intention, however, was to produce new works in a distinctively 20th-century style, and he
Picasso and the Ballets Russes Picasso and the Ballets Russes Pablo Picasso and the Ballets Russes collaborated on several productions. Pablo Picasso's Cubist sets and costumes were used by Sergei Diaghilev in the Ballets Russes's "Parade" (1917, choreography: Léonide Massine), "Le Tricorne" ("The Three-Cornered Hat") (1919, choreography: Massine), "Pulcinella" (1920, choreographer: Massine), and "Cuadro Flamenco" (1921, choreography: Spanish folk dancers). Picasso also drew a sketch with pen on paper of "La Boutique fantasque" ("La course"), (1919, choreography: Massine). and designed the drop curtain for "Le Train Bleu" (1924, choreography: Bronislava Nijinska), based on his painting, "Two Women Running on the Beach" ("The Race"), 1922. The