<P> In 1917, Pablo Picasso designed sets and costumes in the Cubist style for three Diaghilev ballets, all with choreography by Léonide Massine: Parade, El sombrero de tres picos, and Pulcinella . </P> <P> Natalia Goncharova was born in 1881 near Tula, Russia . Her art was inspired by Russian folk art, Fauvism, and cubism . She began designing for the Ballets Russes in 1921 . </P> <P> Although the Ballets Russes firmly established the 20th - century tradition of fine art theatre design, the company was not unique in its employment of fine artists . For instance, Savva Mamontov's Private Opera Company had made a policy of employing fine artists, such as Konstantin Korovin and Golovin, who went on to work for the Ballets Russes . </P> <P> For his new productions, Diaghilev commissioned the foremost composers of the 20th century, including: Debussy, Milhaud, Poulenc, Prokofiev, Ravel, Satie, Respighi, Stravinsky, de Falla, and Strauss . He was also responsible for commissioning the first two significant British - composed ballets: Romeo and Juliet (composed in 1925 by nineteen - year - old Constant Lambert) and The Triumph of Neptune (composed in 1926 by Lord Berners). </P>

This great russian impresario brought the russian ballet to paris in 1908