4DPictBoris Kustodiev Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927)

Description of the painting "Morning" by Boris Kustodiev

The painting depicts Kustodiev’s family - his wife and firstborn. It is early morning, the mother has brought the child into the room to bathe him. Sunlight pours in from the window, illuminating a table cluttered with things, a fireplace not lit for the occasion of heat, a vase with white chrysanthemums on it, a small basin.

The mother is dressed in a light white blouse, a black skirt. Her hair is pinned high, so that the child, splashing, does not get it wet. She bends low to the tub and pours clear water into the palms of her hands to water the baby. He is plump, rosy-cheeked, with blond short hair, also reaches for the water, as if seeking to repeat the gesture of his mother. He has folds of fat at the wrists, pink knees, and he looks very concentrated, as if the success of the whole enterprise depended on his help.

The picture reeks of warmth and coziness. The apartment is not too richly furnished, but with taste and love. The woman is not very beautiful, but in the way she bathes her son, one can feel great care and attention. The baby is not much different from any other infant, but it is painted with love and care, as if the artist had set himself the task of transferring his son to the canvas as accurately as possible.

It is a little idyll of a family, expressed in the everyday little things. In the way the baby clings to his mother’s hand as he tries to walk for the first time. In the way his mother reads him a bedtime story and returns the bright rattle he threw away. In the way she teaches him to play, teaches him to count, teaches him to be a real person.

These actions are the same for everyone, but each family plays them in its own way. Just as in theaters, where one troupe has a fat character, another has a chrome one, a third forgets the text, a fourth has shortness of breath, so in the family the actions are colored according to who plays them.

And if they are played by a loving family, they are strikingly different from those played where there is no love.