herd of horses in the Baraba steppe Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916)

Description of Vasily Surikov’s painting A Herd of Horses in the Barabinsk Steppe

Surikov is a truly Russian painter. The formal side turns out to be subordinate to the substantive. This is necessary in order to create an overall poetic impression on the viewers. He was able to completely disregard the beauty of forms, which were characteristic of academism. The artist was completely at the mercy of his inspiration. He was constantly in search of something special and totally new.

The painter managed to find the charm that was inherent in the creations of the masters of antiquity. The most valuable thing in Surikov - the incredible depth of poetry mystical nature. His paintings are real dreams, filled with magic. The viewers are faced with visions that are so vivid and convex that they appear to be truly prophetic.

We see a vast steppe with grazing horses. It is so vast that it seems to merge with the sky. The figures of the horses are not so clearly depicted. They merge with the steppe grass. The painter uses his palette skilfully, creating masterful, smooth transitions of green and brown. No distinct borders between tones are discernible. Surikov tried to convey the vastness of the Russian steppe with the help of properly chosen colors.

Plains in the foreground give way to hills in the background. Light blue sky with cumulonimbus clouds almost merges with the steppe on the horizon.

Surikov was not just depicting nature. In his painting, he gives the audience a sense of his relationship to it. In a seemingly familiar and everyday picture lurks a deep meaning that not everyone can see. This is possible only for the true master, for whom all the details are meaningful.

Surikov purposely does not paint individual trees and horses. By that he underscores the homogeneity of this vast space. Everything here is significant as one vast whole. The steppe lives its own life. Looking at the picture of the great painter, the viewer feels it.