1905
oil on canvas
127 х 131

The painting was produced by the artist in his early symbolistic period. The visible reality dissolves, caught in the web of intuitive impulses, sinking into the space of dreams and reveries. The image of fountain symbolizes the mystical cycle of life, which involves and endows with spirit all that exists. The phantom radiance emanating from the picture reminds of the reflection of the other world present in this one. The painting shows the dawn of the world, not yet fully realised. One cannot but think of the azure kingdom of unborn babies in the play "Blue bird" by Belgian symbolist writer Maurice Maeterlinck. The ornamental pattern of brushstrokes flowing downwards like musical tunes integrate the fountain jets and tree branches. We can see phantom creatures appearing; they are still unborn, not yet separated from the primordial chaos, but they are already part and parcel of the implacable treadmill of life cycles. When interpreted by Kuznetsov, one of symbolism's central themes – the theme of Eternal Femininity – acquires a shade of meaning, to be presented as the theme of Eternal Motherhood, of endless cycle of births.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 46