Description of the painting by Alexei Savrasov “Summer Landscape”

Description of the painting by Alexei Savrasov Summer Landscape

Written in the sixties of the XIX century. The exact date is unknown. Materials – oil on canvas, size 27 by 38 cm. Located in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

Alexey Kondratievich is an unsurpassed master of the Russian landscape, on the canvas of which nature is depicted a great number of times, he lives and breathes at any time of the year. It is considered the best and most poetic painting “The Rooks Have Arrived” in 1871.

In this small work, the artist uses oil, which, especially from a long distance, seems to be aerial watercolor, which is especially noticeable to the upper right corner and in the very distant plan, bathed in sunlight and lost in the haze. The whole constructed, deep perspective, which originates from a small lake formed from behind the dam, strives for it, is picked up by a footpath climbing a slope and is lost in the infinity of golden meadows.

It even seems that

a girl in a white shirt and a bright red skirt is walking along the path in search of her cow. The animal, defrosted by the heat, came to drink and carefully gets out of the bushes to the stream. The trickle runs further, beyond the limits of the left lower edge of the picture. The whole composition reflects the depth and well thought out.

The color scheme with a predominance of ocher, brown and dark green shades is somewhat unusual for a summer theme and at first seems gloomy, but, after looking closely, the viewer understands: the painter wanted to convey the atmosphere of a sultry and sultry day when the sky is covered with a solid shroud of translucent clouds, and the sun tints with gold all around. Judging by the color of the fields, perhaps this August is coming to an end.

Neat thin lines, with which the master draws reeds and grass of the foreground, light spots of meadow flowers, trembling highlights on the water and differently colored silhouettes of foliage and tree crowns show the author’s love for animating the picture of natural details.


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

Description of the painting by Alexei Savrasov “Summer Landscape”