Separation Alexey Korzukhin (1835-1894)

Description of Alexei Korzukhin’s painting "Parting" (1872)

A. I. Korzukhin’s work is devoted to genre domestic painting; he usually chose motifs for paintings in everyday life, which he contemplated and described, expressing sympathy for his heroes. The canvas is executed in serene and peaceful tones, corresponding to the chosen subject. On the canvas the artist shows the landowner’s family at home. They are seeing off their son, a teenager who came from the cadet corps on vacation.

On the left, in the foreground, the mother is sitting on a chair with her rather grown-up son sitting on her lap, dressed in military uniform and already ready to leave. The woman is worried about the impending separation. However, she knows that it is necessary, but she wants to prolong the moments of separation, and she uses them for one last briefing. The artist has portrayed this action admirably with an anxious facial expression and a hand gesture with an outstretched index finger. The boy, on the other hand, does not look at his mother, looking away, he is already mentally out of the house. The author shows the characters of his characters through the nuances of color, the accuracy of details.

The artist is accurate in depicting the elements of clothing and furnishings. The woman is dressed in a maiden dress with ruffles in red and gray stripes, her head is covered with a black lace kerchief, in her hand she holds a snow-white handkerchief, which she wipes her tears inadvertently. The boy is dressed in a long dark coat with red uniform stripes in the buttonholes, a yellow scarf passed under his shoulder straps, crossed over his chest. In his hands he holds his headdress. Behind the chair stands an elderly woman, also already dressed in travel clothes and carrying a travel bag, ready to accompany the young man to his place of study.

Opposite this group of characters sits on a sofa, sprawled out, with his leg over his leg, his father holding a watch on a chain in his hand, reminding him of the time. He is also dressed in an unbuttoned uniform coat with red buttonholes, epaulettes, and stripes on his pants. He is leaning on the sofa with his other hand and his face expresses anxiety and worry. The artist has carefully painted all the details of the setting: a table with a snow-white tablecloth set for tea, portraits on the wall, a chair with an unread newspaper and his father’s cane. The painting conveys a family scene in a house where people are aware of their sense of duty, sending their only son to serve.