1884
oil on canvas
228 x 141

Kramskoi tries to make a tragic note powerful and resonant. He has chosen a huge, almost formal state room scale for the canvas. The figure of a woman in mourning is turned directly facing the viewer. The solemnity of the circumstance, the opulence of the entourage only serve to emphasize the drama of the situation. One critic observed that this was “precisely the sort of painting that is produced by Kramskoi the realist, someone who is a profound observer and interpreter of human nature, who gives expression to his impressions in a restrained, strict and simple form.” The artist has endowed the heroine with the portrait features of his wife S.N. Kramskaya.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 20