The Painting by Savrasov “Steppe in the afternoon”


In 1849, Savrasov, on the advice of the teacher of the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture (MUZHV), Karl Rabus, and with the means of patron IV Likhachev, made a trip to Ukraine, which resulted in a number of works that led critics to talk about the young painter as the hope of Russian art.

His first trip to Little Russia was largely introductory. Then he discovered for the first time the poetry of the Ukrainian steppe. This impression, strong and bright, has sunk into his soul. Three years later, in 1852, Savrasov again came to Ukraine, but no longer a timid student, but a fully formed artist.

The proportionality, the friendliness of the boundless distances to the living and working people on earth are conveyed in the Savrasian landscapes, executed in impressions from a trip to the south of Russia and Ukraine.

According to his impressions from the trip to the south of Russia and Ukraine, Savrasov wrote a number of landscapes, one of which is the painting “Steppe by day”. Endless distance, a kind of “wonderful workplace”, open spaces, spread out under a high, clear, golden sky at the horizon. The picture is characterized by a calm, smooth drawing, affectionate, delicate painting, transparent chiaroscuro, tenderness and at the same time sonorous color scheme.

In the same vein, other works of this period have been completed. A prominent sculptor and critic, a teacher of MUZHV Nikolai Ramazanov, rightly wrote about them in the magazine Moskvityanin: “Landscapes of Mr. Savrasov breathe freshness, variety and that power, which is assimilated by the artist’s brush due to a warm and together reasonable view of nature.” In Savrasov’s “steppe” works, as in similar images of Russian poetry, lingering songs, the dream of the people’s will was expressed in its own way.


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The Painting by Savrasov “Steppe in the afternoon”