Photograph of Tatiana Chaime, Felia Doubrovska and Anna Petrova as Muses in the ballet Zéphire et Flore for Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, 1925.

Zéphire et Flore, choreographed by Léonide Massine, was a modern adaptation of an 18th century telling of a mythological subject that had attracted many choreographers. Boreas (god of the north wind) abducts Flore (Flora, goddess of Spring), wife of Zéphire (Zephyr, the gentle west wind) whom he shoots with an arrow during a game of blind man’s buff. The Muses bring the body of Zéphire to Flore and he is miraculously revived, the lovers are re-united and Boreas punished.

Boris Kochno created an over-elaborate narrative which required simplification. His desire to give the ballet an early 19th century Russian style was only evident in the Kokoshniks worn by the Muses. Léonide Massine was invited to return to the Ballets Russes to choreograph this ballet. He had collaborated with Braque on Salade for Soirées de Paris the year before. Zéphire et Flore was short-lived (it received 29 performances over 2 years) and was plagued by dancers’ injuries in Monte Carlo and Paris in 1925. It was well-received in London and Berlin.