The artistic innovations of Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse were evident in his paintings which contained the full-blooded energy of folk art.
Turbulent colour expression, infected with vital energy, is combined with the laws of primary symmetry characteristic of urban folklore: signs, trays.
He hyperboles the material world, condenses forms, dramatises colour contrasts and exaggerates texture, creating powerful pictorial formulas.
In the 1920-1930s the artist tried to amalgamate his innovative achievements with the refinement of paintings by old masters (Food, Moscow Bread, 1924).
In June 2013 during Russian Art Week in London, Christie's sold Mashkov's Still life with fruit for a record $7.3 million.