1906
oil on canvas
223 х 410

Like "fairy-land heroines of Old-Russian legends", the peasant women move in their dance. Their khorovod incorporates Nature's elements. The flying clothes dissolve in streams of colourful brushstrokes, resembling now hot bursts of flame, now cold jets of water, now a searing breath of wind, now flower-covered meadows. The picture is made all the more dynamic by the sweeping movements of the brush, in line with the rhythm of the swirling dance. I.E.Grabar advised Malyavin to paint using special, slowly drying oils. As a result the painting came to resemble volcanic lava, appearing as distinctive mobile mosaic. The shapes and colours merge, creating internal tension. This enhances the expressive power of the picture, built as it is at an intersection of different stylistic trends such as impressionism and Art Nouveau. The painting was produced during the first Russian revolution. Its theme, the blazing red colour scheme makes it is possible to see at the same time a hope for spiritual revival and presentiment of destructive forces being unleased.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 38