Russian life. Estate, city and village

How nineteenth-century painters depicted work, wealth, education and changes in everyday life.

Familiar paintings stand beside works less often encountered on the first pages of art-history books. We begin with an estate and domestic life, then look at new public institutions, a bank, a school and a railway. The final section follows changes in painting itself around the turn of the century: colour, brushwork and landscape composition.

The home and social position

Homes and occupations help reveal social arrangements. Work, leisure and memories of the past coexist on the estate.

The Threshing Floor

Alexey Venetsianov · 1822–1823

Venetsianov painted peasants on his own estate. His experiment with space took place within a landowner’s economy.

Breakfast of an Aristocrat

Pavel Fedotov · 1849–1850

Fedotov uses household objects to reveal the gap between desired prosperity and the owner’s actual means.

Grandmother’s Garden

Vasily Polenov · 1878

Polenov’s old manor links an everyday scene to the memory of earlier generations.

All in the Past

Vasily Maximov · 1889

Maximov’s mistress and servant continue familiar routines beside an empty large house.

After the reforms

The zemstvo, bank and village school became recognisable settings of contemporary life. Painters addressed the expectations and inequalities surrounding them.

The Zemstvo Dines

Grigory Myasoedov · 1872

Members of a new local government eat in different conditions. Myasoedov addresses equal rights through food and the placement of people.

Bank Collapse

Vladimir Makovsky · 1881

A bank failure moves the subject of vulnerability to circumstances into the urban world of depositors.

At the School Door

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky · 1897

A peasant boy at the school threshold links education to the prospect of a changed life.

Life Everywhere

Nikolai Yaroshenko · 1888

The railway transports prisoners here. Yaroshenko depicts those on the other side of the bars.

The Last Tavern at the City Gates

Vasily Perov · 1868

Perov turns to a person waiting beside a road. The winter landscape conveys almost as much about the situation as the figure itself.

Orphaned

Nikolai Kasatkin · 1891

Kasatkin leaves two children beside a grave. Worn clothes and the empty setting establish the scene’s social dimension.

The present looks at the past

The Wanderers also addressed history. Their choice of moments and relationships reflected questions of their own time.

Peter I Interrogating Tsarevich Alexei at Peterhof

Nikolai Ge · 1871

Ge shows a ruler alone with his son. The painting was discussed in 1871, when the cost of state reforms remained a live issue.

Light and everyday observation

Everyday action occupies less space in these works. Painters increasingly investigate how light changes the colour of familiar settings.

Moscow Courtyard

Vasily Polenov · 1878

Polenov’s Moscow courtyard preserves almost village-like activities. Daylight joins its church, buildings and people.

After the Rain

Arkhip Kuindzhi · 1879

Kuindzhi chooses a brief change in the weather. Light on the ground becomes the landscape’s main event.

Calm Before the Storm

Nikolai Dubovskoy · 1889–1890

Dubovskoy relates the cloud’s scale to small buildings. A rural setting becomes part of a large weather event.

In a Boat

Konstantin Korovin · 1888

Korovin brings people and foliage together through coloured strokes. The impression of light unites landscape and figures.

The Pond

Victor Borisov-Musatov · 1902–1903

Borisov-Musatov turns an estate outing into a composed scene with identifiable models.

In the Evening

Abram Arkhipov · c. 1910

Arkhipov retains a village subject while painting figures and buildings in broad areas of colour, changing the language of a familiar theme.

What changed in Russian life

Everyday life offered a way to discuss society. Venetsianov studied the space of his own estate; Myasoedov, the position of zemstvo representatives; Makovsky, the fate of depositors; Bogdanov-Belsky, access to education. Similar genre subjects could address different questions.

Towards the century’s end, landscape and colour increasingly acquired an independent role. Polenov, Korovin, Dubovskoy and Arkhipov show observation of daily life continuing through experiments with light and painted surfaces.