Rainbow. 1875 Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov (1830-1897)

Description of Alexei Savrasov’s painting "Rainbow"

Savrasov sought beauty in simple, ordinary landscapes. His paintings are imbued with love for the native expanses. From under the brush of the artist come out the seemingly simple corners of Russia, but dear to the heart and soul. Painting "Rainbow" also from this series. Mutilated huts, dense brushwood, ravines, washed-out roads, an uneven bank and a wide river - it’s all so ordinary and so natural.

In the picture you can see the outskirts of the village with gray shabby houses, the descent to the river in the form of wooden stairs. A rainbow appeared over the village after the rain, transparent, slightly visible. Streams flow down from the hill, forming ditches.

In the distance you can see the continuation of the village. And above it are black clouds that take the rain with them. Of the people, only one woman is depicted returning home from the river. She is carrying a beaker with buckets filled with water. On the right side of the painting, a river is depicted. The brown and yellow sky is reflected in it. The water is still muddy after the rain.

The sky occupies almost half of the painting. The lower half is dominated by the lush green of rain-washed grass. A heavy thunderstorm is likely to have passed. The rain has stopped and the clouds are gone, but the streams are still flowing. The air is clear, there is no dust. There is a feeling of silence and serenity.

The rainbow is the brightest part of the picture. But at the same time it is not bright, not artificial. It’s light and weightless, like air and light. The boardwalk stairs seem to lead to the rainbow. And the rainbow itself connects heaven and earth.

You can trace with your eyes the long line that divides the picture into two parts vertically. It begins as a road at the bottom edge of the painting, which then leads to a hill. This ascent is continued by a rainbow that runs upwards. Could this be a reflection of the relationship between the earth and the sky? Or the harmony of this place? People didn’t conquer nature here. They learned to live in unity with it, to put up with its power. They know that after a severe thunderstorm, a fresh, joyous rainbow will soon appear. This makes the landscape not at all sad and heavy, but bright and light.