1878
oil on canvas
64,5 х 80,1

This is Polenov's best-known painting. It provided the first roadmap for Russian art in the 1870s, in line with its desire to weed out the genre orientation typical of the Itinerants' realism. It also features the church of the Saviour, which has survived to this day in Peski near Arbat. The image of the Moscow of the 19th century is striking in its almost country way of life. The artist has portrayed a multi-dimensional world, which accommodates equally well an old manor estate with a shady neglected garden, a church and abandoned lopsided barns. In the centre is wasteland, overgrown with fresh grass. It is criss-crossed by footpaths running diagonally, to emphasize the depth of space. The child in the foreground, the figure of a woman with a pail of water and the horse put to the cart form the composition's triangle and highlight the balance of ratios. There are children playing; a toddler crying for some reason or other; chicken feeding: the entire small world, going about its business, is warmed by sunlight. The artist's eye focuses with equal tenderness on the crown of a daisy, golden head of a girl and a glowing dome of a church, bringing together the smaller and bigger world in a harmonious embrace.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 36