Description of the picture:
Morning still life – Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin. 1918. Oil on canvas, sixty six x 88
One of the main ideas of the work of Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin was to be able to depict through soul painting the soul, spirit, mood of the world. If you look closely at the paintings of the painter, you can see that they are all full of internal dynamics and energy.
Morning still life is a very moody work. It seems that you can feel the aroma of tea, the fragrance of flowers and hear the delicate metal clatter of a silver teaspoon on the faceted sides of a glass cup. Everyone will remember this morning picture without difficulty, and this is the purpose of this painting. Petrov-Vodkin proves to the viewer how many wonderful things are around us that, behind their cyclicality, “hid” in a boring category of routine. The author helpfully suggests looking at ordinary things in a new way, without this retouching of a shabby everyday life.
Morning. Brightly lit table suggests that the window is the sun. The table is wooden, neatly planed, light brown with a “pink” color. Each item on the table is separate, with no color difference, but together everything looks balanced and harmonious – the viewer simply moves his eyes from one item to another, carefully studying each element.
Such compositional harmony, integrity and balance is achieved by a peculiar “roll call” of each component of this welcoming morning table. In the edges of the steel polished teapot, eggs are reflected, the shiny sides of which also shine from the teapot, then in this peculiar mirror you can see a red cat and a reflection of the table, from which an intelligent muzzle of the Irish setter peeks. Everything seems to be intertwined with each other with the complete independence of objects.
An interesting fact is that as many as two objects on the table have sides. In this way, the artist seeks to expand the existing space – a teaspoon is multiplied three times through the edges of the glass, and the teapot, as it turns out, helpfully shows the characters who are not in the picture (red cat).
In order to expand the space, as well as enrich the work with dynamism, most objects have a smooth reflective surface. Wonderful summer flowers, dandelions and bells are reflected in a transparent vase, whose life outside nature is too short, but so beautiful, the saucer shines brightly, reflecting sunlight, the source of which the author also did not show us, and, finally, a brilliant flashlight closes this luminous composition.
There is no man in the space of the canvas, but you can always feel it: by freshly picked flowers, pouring tea, matches left, and, finally, animals that rushed to the table in anticipation of something tasty. The picture is drawn so that the viewer, examining the work, as if located on the site of this person, sits here at such a morning table. Unsurpassed effect of presence – the author subtly and skillfully makes us the acting characters of his still life.
By the simplicity of the interior available to our eyes, it can be argued that this is a house in the village or a summer house. This place is filled with silence, peace and joy for the artist, which is why his color palette is so bright and cheerful. The painter admires all these simple things, allowing the viewer to catch this pure naive beauty. One feels his wise look, calmness, measuredness, which spiritualize this unsophisticated still life, embellishing it with multivariate interpretations and soulfulness so understandable and close to each person."