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Overgrown Pond. 1880
Polenov Vasily,
Oil on canvas
44 x 64,5
State Russian Museum
Annotation
This painting was typical of the Russian landscapes of the 1870s, in which the genre took second stage to the landscape. The artist offers a poetic interpretation of the small corner of an old estate. The solitary female figure in the depths of the park — the artist’s sister, Vera Khruschova (1844–1881) — intensifies the mood of romanticism. This is one of the finest landscapes in Polenov’s art of the turn of the 1870s and 1880s.
Author's Biography
Polenov Vasily
Polenov, Vasily Dmitriyevich
1844, St Petersburg - 1927, Bekhovo (Tula Province)
Painter, draughtsman, landscape painter, author of works on biblical subjects. Took lessons from Pavel Chistyakov (1859-61) and studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1863-67). Graduated from the legal faculty of the St Petersburg University (1871). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Germany, Italy, France and Britain (1872-76). Academician (1876), professor of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1892). Member of the Abramtsevo circle (from 1873). Helped to found Sawa Mamontov''''s Russian Private Opera in Moscow (1884). Contributed to many exhibitions. Taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1882-94). People''''s Artist of Russia (1926). Opened a museum at the Borok estate (now the Vasily Polenov Estate Museum).