#43764 Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927)

Description of Boris Kustodiev’s painting The Blue House

The painting was painted in 1920. For the artist, a house is not just an architectural structure that must be executed with its proportions preserved and its lines crisp - it is life itself, spurting from all the doors and windows. And in Kustodiev’s painting "The Blue House" everything is exactly the same.

The house, painted a pure heavenly color and the people it brings together, brings them to one place so they can feel their integrity, not only with this house, but with each other.

Home is the place from which the beginning of human destiny lies, which, having brought thousands of trials, will bring him back to the same place to see him off on his last journey. Understanding this, the artist depicts not just a house, but the entire human life. Therefore, the researchers of the painting believe that it is possible to understand it only when you begin to consider it in parts, according to the planned arrangement of the characters.

So, the foreground shows simple people, different professions, playing chess, as if playing out the game of their lives, which will anyway end in the undertaker’s shop, placed in the basement of the house. The undertaker is the end of the journey, but its beginning can be seen at the very bottom of the painting, where small children are placed almost invisibly, busy playing with the dog.

Next, the artist depicts a couple in love, showing that life goes on, and as a result, a woman with a baby is shown around the corner of the house, no doubt symbolically reminiscent of the Virgin Mary with Jesus in her arms.

At the very top, on the balcony, the owners of the house are having tea, gathered around a samovar. Everything is perfect and beautiful, the table is richly set, pots of flowers are fragrant, but these people also come to the undertaker’s shop.

On the roof, the teenager scares away the pigeons, he is above it all, for he is not familiar with the dreams of a couple in love, nor with the worries of his mother, nor even with the problems of the people gathered for tea and play, he is completely carefree, and therefore perfect. This boy is the youth and strength of the Russian people, who are not discouraged by any adversity.

The picture is filled with light and happiness, everything here is harmonious and joyful, and what else is needed for the human soul.