Summer Landscape (Vera A. Repin on the bridge in Abramtsevo) Ilya Repin (1844-1930)

Description of Ilya Repin’s painting "Summer Landscape" (On a Bridge)

The painting was painted by Repin in 1879.

In this canvas, man and nature are united. Such creations are most valuable. Abramtsevo has been depicted by many artists, but only with Repin is it so moving and truly lyrical.

We see the park on a summer day. There are a lot of old trees, which merge into solid thickets in the background. The shady thicket is so dense that it seems completely wild.

In the foreground we see a bridge. It is small and already quite old, one plank is even missing. A woman in a long white dress is standing on it. Who is she? She is the artist’s wife. She is walking around, enjoying the beauty of this pristine nature.

On the one hand, it may seem like a gloomy painting. Repin used too many dark colors. But the viewer does not get an oppressive feeling. It is as if the painting is lit from within. The female figure is illuminated by the rays of the sun breaking through the trees. In the distance, behind the dense branches, one can feel the glow of a summer day.

It is here, in this corner of natural unspoiled nature, that one can enjoy silence, meditate, and be alone with one’s thoughts. How often we lack this in life.

Repin’s creation is unusually reliefful. All the greenery is three-dimensional, each board of the bridge is palpable. The artist prescribed all the folds of the dress. It is not a uniform white color, but rather golden, thanks to the sunlight. We cannot see the woman’s face, but we can feel that she is young and full of life. She came here to think about life and to feel her union with nature. Repin succeeded in conveying her elegance, under the folds of her long dress one can feel the graceful curves of her figure. She is in full harmony with the depicted nature, absolutely merging with it. It is impossible to separate one from the other. It’s a grandiose unified whole, conveying the most intimate thoughts of the painter.