1971–1973
Canvas, oil paint, PVC, tempera
285 x 345

Here is one of the last completed paintings of the artist which was created as a requiem. As it were, it symbolized the tragic end of the artist’s life. The heroine is a certain old ‘babka’ Anis’ya who is not known by anyone. She is a metaphorical and symbolic person. She embodies the popular philosophy about immutability of the life cycle of any man. In Popkov’ picture nature is a divine temple in which a certain ritual – a funeral – is going on. A huge oak tree, which is a sort of “tree of life,” casts spreads above a group of young and old people with the figure of a boy on a tree advanced to the foreground. Among the 30 personages on the canvas the artist has depicted himself and his mother Stepanida Ivanovna. From other works by the artist we can also identify some of the personages: the heroines from the painting Mezensk Widows and other works. The details of the composition - the moss-covered monument, artificial wreath, and flying magpies – are all typical signs of a rural cemetery and possess their own autonomous expressiveness. All together they form a polyphonic whole. The dramaturgy of the painting is constructed from the combination of the intimate lyricism of the soul and the epic harmony of folk spirit. The composition has been made in fresco style with the action developed not so much in depth as along the painting’s plane. There is nothing arbitrary about the artist’s allusions to the well-known canvas of Gustav Courbet Burial in Ornans. However, the emotional sound of the painting is filled with a profoundly Russian colouring. This is facilitated both by the elements of folkloric nature and by the graphic solution, which is especially moving and touches the heart of the spectator.

at 10, Krymsky Val, Hall 37