Description of the picture:
Mika Morozov – Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov. 1901. Oil on canvas. 62.3×70.6
There is no more difficult task for an artist than painting a portrait of a child. Children are mobile, changing every second. You need to have iron patience and undoubted talent to cope with such a task. Portrait of Mika Morozov is a brilliant work of the great master Serov.
Before us is a child sitting on a stool. White shirt, golden curls, energetic pose. Such artists painted cupids and cupids. The viewer’s attention is concentrated on Mika’s face. Wide open, shiny eyes, pink cheeks, half-open mouth. The hero is passionate about what is happening around. Apparently, someone nearby is trying to keep the child’s attention, to achieve immobility from him. Mika is obsessed with greedy curiosity. One more moment and he will rush towards something new, unusual, interesting.
Serov frankly neglects the surrounding interior, background, details. For him, it is important only this childhood moment of cognition of the surrounding world, spontaneity, naturalness, openness – the very qualities that adults so well hide."