Among Russian samples of landscape painting,amazing foreigners with dynamics and penetration, an exceptional place belongs to the canvases of the young and, undoubtedly, the brilliant painter Fedor Vasilyev. If not for an early death from tuberculosis (at 23 years old), he, according to Kramskoy, would have made a revolution in the landscape genre.
Vasiliev's painting "The Thaw" was singled out firsta prize from among others represented by the great masters of painting at the exhibition of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of Artists. Maecenas Pavel Tretyakov bought a landscape for his collection long before the exhibition. Grand Duke Alexander, who in ten years was to enter the Russian throne, was so impressed with the picture that he ordered a copy for the imperial house. In the author's repetition, the canvas acquired a softer, touching sound than his "firstborn twin". It was decided to send it to an international exhibition held in the UK. From abroad, the landscape also returned with the first prize and enthusiastic reviews of reviewers. Today, the first painting by Vasiliev "Thaw" is exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery, and its "double" has taken its place in the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg. What was so in this canvas that fascinated the famous audience?
Let's take a look at this unusually broadformat and deep in content canvas. In the middle of the cold Russian winter, there was a thaw. The nature is still covered with a deep sleep, frozen in ice and frost. A sudden "unplanned" awakening takes her by surprise. Dark thawed patches, a raw mash of snow on the road, immediately attacked by birds, a weak golden spot of light somewhere in the sky - these spring changes are still deceptive, but already inevitable.
Vasilyev's painting "Thaw" was created ina period of great reforms in the country, which in its own way will remind Khrushchev's "thaw" in the twentieth century. The outburst of the political life of Russia at the time was based on liberal tendencies, which directly related to the situation of a huge part of the people. As you know, the reforms have disappointed, but have prompted people to self-determination, choosing their own future path.
Thaw in the middle of winter, flooded streamsmelting snow, under which the road barely shows up, was forced to stop in the indecisiveness of the peasant and the tiny girl. Where to go? How? Perhaps they will move, but it will not be easy for them.
Undoubtedly, the idea of the picture is not exhausted, asit is considered to be a maxim about "painful peasant life". Here there is an idea of the progressive movement of nature and history, which pushes time ahead through stops and obstacles. Is it not for this reason that Vasiliev's painting "The Thaw" has acquired world-wide significance?
Impressionist methods of the same "paintingmood ", which is necessarily mentioned when speaking of Vasiliev's canvases, the author also uses in this work. The author depicts not so much objects as the enveloping light and air. Due to this, the outlines are extremely realistic, mobile, expressive. The space of the canvas is divided into two parts - the earth and the sky. In the center there is a tall tree on which the coppice is lost, which is lost in the depths of the depths, and a stream that has poured out from a thawed brook visually creates a cross that takes up the vertical and horizontal. Gently changing into each other, the tones unite the blatant beauty of the landscape, the croaking sounds of crows, the soft murmur of melted snow into one mighty symphony of grandeur and defenselessness, which F. Vasilyev so perceptibly understood and skillfully portrayed. The "thaw" was highly appreciated by the friend and teacher of the artist Ivan Kramskoy, calling it a strong, daring, full of great poetic content and a decidedly new work.
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