“Sunspots on hoarfrost”, Kuindzhi – description of the painting

Description of the picture:

Sunspots on hoarfrost – Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi. 1876-1890. Oilcloth, oil. Twenty four x twenty seven cm

   Kuindzhi’s painting is a vivid and expressive example of typically Russian impressionism. Northern Russian nature, the absence of flashy “tropical” colors and a special, unique feeling of peace, tranquility, which simply blows from the canvas – this is how this picture differs from its kindred patterns in the same painting genre.

   The canvas depicts a fragment of a snowy forest – although there are no signs on the picture to identify the area, it is clear that such a nature is characteristic of our climate. Significantly heavy blocks of snow just crushed tree branches to the ground. A figurative quote by Mikhail Afanasevich Bulgakov “the city was covered with the cap of a snow general” can be applied to this picture, only here the city needs to be replaced with a forest.

   The trees in the picture are sleeping, wrapped in a thick layer of snow. On its surface lies a thin layer of hoarfrost, reflecting the sun’s rays and giving very bright spots of white color. The sharp contrast gives the canvas volume and expressiveness. Because of the oblique rays of the sun on a dense layer of snow, contrasting shadows appear, and the branches and trunks of trees looking through in some places, needles, appear very dark, almost black.

   Compositionally, the picture is designed so that the viewer feels himself in a small clearing or clearing in the thick of the winter forest. This impression is created due to the arrangement of trees in the snow – they seem to frame the canvas on the sides. In the foreground there is an open space filled with spots of sunlight, and then the viewer’s gaze rests on the tightly snowy trees, simply covered with snow on the very top of the head. In the distance, in a bluish haze, a continuation of the forest is discerned, which becomes very dense, and because of the pristine snow it looks like a solid color spot. The hue that the artist portrayed him resonates with the color of the sky – high and clear, but with a lead shade characteristic of winter. He still has a very long time to wait until true blueness appears.

   This small but very spectacular picture without a special plot and characters sinks into the soul precisely thanks to the sensation that it produces. Looking at her, the viewer feels the effect of being in this deeply sleeping forest, wrapped in a thick snow coat. There reigns silence and inexpressible peace, which so far, even bright sunlight can not wake. Spring is still far, far away …"

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