Dawn in the steppe. 1852 Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov (1830-1897)

Description of Alexei Savrasov’s painting "Dawn in the Steppe

Alexei Savrasov discovered early aptitude for painting. Critics noted the extreme vitality of the young man’s work-though they considered some of it somewhat clumsy. But the artist made rapid progress in his work, and at the age of twenty-four, when he graduated from college, he received the title of academician. Despite the fact that in his youth Savrasov traveled a lot, the vast majority of his landscapes depict native, Russian expanses. The artist always painted nature in a lofty vein, romanticizing even quite unsightly manifestations.

The painting "Dawn in the steppe," the author created during a creative trip to Ukraine. Savrasov was struck by the infinity of the steppe expanses, and in the works of the time he tried to convey this feeling of freedom and incredible openness of the scenery spread out before him. The truly poetic romanticism of this painting creates an uplifting, joyful mood.

Nature is waking up from her slumber; the sky is tinted first in bright crimson, crimson and orange, and then in pink, soft golden and pale lilac hues. The delicate colors and transparent highlights perfectly convey the airy atmosphere of early morning; the sky looks radiant and solemn. Morning, which is emerging on the horizon, gradually brightens the black colors and destroys the shadows; the steppe is waking up and opening towards the sun and the warmth of summer. In this painting the artist has resorted to one of his favorite motifs - depicting the dawn or sunset sky with colors of all the colors of the rainbow, with rich and powerful smooth transitions; but in Alexei Kondatievich’s interpretation these colors look absolutely natural and do not seem excessively bright.