Oaks. 1855 Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov (1830-1897)

Description of Alexei Savrasov’s painting The Oaks

"The Oaks" is one of the earliest works by the famous Russian landscape painter Savrasov, painted a year after graduating from the Moscow Art School.

The painting can be considered quite romantic. On the shore of a narrow stream, both banks of which are overgrown with grass, stand two mighty oaks. Their trunks grew side by side, almost touching each other. The crowns are almost indistinguishable, merging into one, twinned, very lush and giving a lot of shade. A small path leads past the oaks, along the river bank, in the direction of the forest.

In this painting we can already trace the traditional Savrasov motifs: the forest, the saturation of colors, which creates the impression of presence. No, all the colors of the rainbow are not in the picture. The crown, bushes, grass - everything is done in dark green tones. But in different ways. It all blends beautifully with the black trunks and the light sky, almost completely free of clouds.

With the exception of a path leading deep into the forest, there are no traces of human or animal presence in the painting. This is a characteristic feature of many later paintings by the artist. The path is well treaded and you can see that people often walk along it.

The space in Savrasov’s painting is limited by the forest spread along the banks of the stream. But more than half of the painting is occupied by the sky, which is light blue with small cloud cover, partly covered by the twin tops of the oaks.

The portrayal of the oak trees is a special feature in Savrasov’s art. Few people have managed to convey so realistically the mighty stature, majesty, unhurriedness in the midst of lesser counterparts. In particular, the same contiguous oaks with twin tops can be seen in the mid-50s painting "Summer Landscape with Oaks."

Painted in oil on canvas. It is kept in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.