Cossacks in the boat Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916)

Description of Vasily Surikov’s painting "Cossacks in a Boat".

The great artist Vasily Surikov loved his native land of Siberia very much. This gave rise to his works in the historical genre. The struggle of Yermak with the Tatars was a very interesting subject for the painter.

The study The Cossacks in a Boat was created in 1892 in Krasnoyarsk. Later it became a fragment of the 1895 painting The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak. In it, the artist described a scene from the famous battle of the Cossack army with the Tatar invaders. This battle was decisive, and the Russian lands were forever free from the heavy oppression of the Horde tribes.

Surikov, starting to work on the picture, assumed to depict the battle truthfully, as described by historical sources. But still he decided that the scene of soldiers fighting in the cold waters of the Irtysh would look more exciting and dramatic than on solid ground.

The sketch depicts four men sailing in a wooden boat. The image of each of them is painted expressively. Their individuality and striving for their goal is underlined.

The Cossacks know that the future life of their people depends on the outcome of this battle. Their clothes look like the Cossack uniform of the 16th century. Each of the men holds heavy rifles in his hands.

The image of a Cossack in a red coat with his back to the viewer is a very good compositional solution. His pose is full of dynamism. He is half lying in the bow of the boat and opens open fire on the enemy.

To fill the faces of heroes of the canvas with expressiveness and vital emotions artist Vasily Surikov spent the whole summer on the banks of the Don. There he communicated with his countrymen, whose appearance was a prototype of the Cossacks depicted in the picture. This historical work brought the artist a lot of pleasant moments, so, finishing it, Surikov felt a slight sadness.