winter. 1898 Valentin Serov (1865-1911)

Description of Valentin Serov’s painting "In Winter".

Valentin Serov’s painting "In Winter" was painted in pastel, gouache, in 1898. It is one of the artist’s best works. Rustic nature is familiar to Serov. The open space is bordered by a forest on the horizon, with a discreet barn in the foreground. A horse-drawn sleigh rides out from behind the barn. The movement of the sled allows you to enjoy the moment, captured by the artist.

The softness in the execution, the muted colors, the complex combination of gray, brown and white, all give the feeling of a quiet and tranquil winter day.

The simplicity of the image, and the small forest in the distance, the horse-drawn sleigh and the barn in the foreground convey great meaning. Here you can see the deep meaning conveyed by the artist’s painting. The white and gray scale, numerous halftones and complex execution do not allow you to dryly enumerate the content of the painting. Here the artist emotionally conveys the literary image of the village and the villager of the time. It is the quiet tranquility, the winter sleep of nature, and this image is conveyed with the skill of the artist.

The landscape "In Winter" is a sample of Serov’s skill. Here one can appreciate the accuracy of conveying the wood of the barn, the forest visible in the distance, the drifts in the field, and the trampled and trampled snow on the road. It is striking how accurately the forest is portrayed, the quiet tranquility, for this is what the countryside looks like in winter.

Each element of the painting is made lightly, yet carries its own, semantic load. After the appearance of the painting, it has a great resonance among Russian artists, and has a strong influence on the development of landscape.

The landscape is made in Domotkanov. It was exhibited in 1899 in St. Petersburg with the title "In the village.

The picture is in the State Russian Museum.