Early spring. Thaw. 1880 Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov (1830-1897)

Description of Alexei Savrasov’s painting Thaw (Early Spring)

Savrasov gives a separate place in his oeuvre to the depiction of landscapes of spring. There are such works through which the master tells the viewer about the endless joy of nature, which is awakening.

And there are such paintings, in which the deep sadness and feelings of the author are hidden. Just one of these works, filled with the deepest lyrical feeling is a canvas called "Thaw" or as it is also called "Early Spring", dated 1874.

The plot of the painting is quite simple and has no hidden background. In front of the viewer opens plain, which is still covered with a blanket of snow. The air is still quite cold, despite the soon approaching warming.

A few poor village houses are visible in the foreground, and behind them, a little away, stands the white village church. The sky, meanwhile, seems endless with its grayness.

Despite this, you can already feel the faintest whiff of spring breeze sweeping across the cold plain, but these blows, in some places you can already see the open areas of soil and trees began to wake up. With the onset of spring migratory birds began to return, which settled on top of the trees and say with all their appearance about the arrival of spring.

This work surprises with its piercing and spirituality. Savrasov managed enough warmly and so at home to fulfill the story of spring in this picture. The master not only copied nature and transferred it to the host in an instant, he conveyed to us all his experiences, which he felt, and which nature felt.

Despite the predominance of gray and languid shades, the master very subtly draws all the lines and thus fulfills the pictorial solution. It should be noted that in this landscape, the master has picked up very native notes, which are able to touch the "live" any viewer.