borisov-musatov the reservoir 1902 Viktor Borisov-Musatov (1870-1905)

Description of Victor Borisov Musatov’s painting "Water body"

The painting The Waterhole was painted by Victor Borisov-Musatov in 1902-1903.

The author began the painting in the park of the estate of Princess Prozorova-Golitsina in the Zubrilovka estate. Borisov-Musatov portrayed his sister and Elena Vladimirovna Aleksandrova. The picture was painted shortly after Elena agreed to become the artist’s bride. In the picture, all the details demonstrate the femininity glorified by its author.

Many viewers, especially those who saw the picture in the original, it seemed not quite real, they saw in it something fairy-tale and detached from time. Apparently, although the painting was painted entirely from life, this particular atmosphere can be explained by the spiritual state of the artist at the time of his work. The image conveys his vision of the world: poetic and sublime.

The composition lacks the horizon line which allows merging the foreground and the background as much as possible. The figures in the painting complement each other: the body of water beyond the canvas has an oval shape, as does the neatly arranged skirt of one of the heroines. In contrast to everything around, calm and refined, it is all in sinuous folds, which add dynamics to the picture, as, for example, a small ripple makes the quiet seascape livelier. In general, the absence of the natural landscape as such is compensated for by trees, small bushes and greenish grass reflected in the water surface.

The heroines are next to the pond, in the foreground of the painting. And despite the fact that the pond is depicted very close, it may seem like a serene sky, which literally hangs over the young ladies. And then it is a completely different landscape, in which the ladies stand on a small hill, behind which could be anything. But more likely a forest, with some of its trees pointing up into the very sky. Thus, the symbolist artist was able to create a landscape that appears in completely different versions, depending on the imagination of the viewer.